Adventure of a lifetime
by Beaker Bait
Summary: Family looks out for family.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Adventure of a lifetime.

Summary: A member of the Atlantis Expedition has a closer relationship to Elizabeth than most.

Spoilers: Anything from Atlantis season one and two is fair game. Some from _'The Lost City'_ as well as a small one from _'Chain Reaction'_ (Blink and you'll miss that last one, though).

Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis is not mine. Only the story line and any made up characters that may appear in the story belong to me.

A/N: I know the whole relative in Atlantis story has been done a million times, but after reading as many of these types of stories as I could find I've noticed that for the most part two things are usually the same; the relative is almost always related to John and is either a cousin or sibling. I'm hoping to steer clear of those things and put a new spin on this story line.

--

Stepping through the gate Major Skyler Cain looked up at the control room, holding his arms out in a questioning manner. His team had spent the last two weeks working undercover trying to infiltrate a minor system lord's ranks and just when they'd started to make some serious headway they'd been recalled back to the SGC, almost blowing their cover in the process.

"Report to the briefing room." The tech on duty called over the intercom.

Glancing at Captain Axel Cooper, his best friend since childhood, Skyler raised an eyebrow Teal'c style, before shrugging his shoulders and shuffling out of the gate room.

Looking up from the file in front of him Hammond watched as SG-16 entered the briefing room.

First through the door was the dark brown almost black haired Major Cain, who easily slid his lean, muscular frame into one of the chairs around the table. Even with the dirt and grime covering the man Hammond could see that two weeks off world had added nicely to the majors' already tan skin. Next came the blond haired Captain Cooper, the man had a similar build to Cain although he was nowhere near as tan as his CO.

After the captain came Dr. Trent Jamsen, the man's shaggy brown hair was mussed as if he'd just rolled out of bed – which probably wasn't far off, it may have been the middle of the afternoon on earth but it was early morning on the planet they'd been on. Instead of sitting down right away the man made a beeline for the coffee machine in the corner of the room, getting coffee for himself and the members of his team. Last to enter the room was the team's field medic Sgt. Travis Connor, scrubbing a hand through his black hair and trying to muffle a yawn.

"Please take a seat gentlemen," Hammond spoke. "I know your all wondering why you've been recalled so suddenly. There have been some changes around here while you've been off world and the president has effectively shut down the SGC for a three-month review process. During which time, a newly formed Government department will take the place of Stargate Command."

"Sir?" Skyler managed to inflect a myriad of questions into that one word.

"I know you must have tons of questions, but I'm afraid I don't know much more than that. I leave for Washington to discuss reassignment tomorrow."

"Don't tell me we're going to end up with another Bauer." Trent pleaded – he _really_ hadn't liked Major General Bauer.

"A civilian actually. Dr. Elizabeth Weir."

At hearing the name the general had said Skyler nearly choked on the sip of coffee he'd been taking. "Excuse me sir did you say Dr. Elizabeth Weir?" He managed to choke out after a brief coughing fit. "Red-ish brown hair, not afraid to let her opinion be known, doesn't take crap from anybody, diplomat well known for mediating for the United Nations, and who started her career as a political activist lobbying _against_ government spending on the military. That Dr. Elizabeth Weir?"

"I take it you've met before."

"Damn it." Skyler leaned forward softly banging his forehead on the table. At seeing the look on his friend's face Axel couldn't help the grin that formed.

"Well you certainly know how to make a girl feel loved." A female voice came from the doorway causing everyone to look that way. An amused look on her face Elizabeth entered the room.

Letting out a sigh, Skyler stood up moving to give Elizabeth a hug, "Lizzie."

"Skyler," she didn't bother to hide her scowl at the nickname as she returned the hug. "Axle," She nodded a greeting to Axle.

"Elizabeth," Axle took care to pronounce her full name, as he shot a raised eyebrow at his friend.

"Sorry I'm late General, my phone conference with the president went longer than I'd planed." Elizabeth moved to take a seat. Skyler being the gentlemen he was pulled the chair out for her, only just barely suppressing the erg to pull the seat out from under her as she went to sit down. They were adults not kids anymore he had to keep telling himself that.

"I understand Doctor." Hammond stated, trying to keep the curiosity off his face.

Skyler could see the curiosity on his CO's face anyway. "You're wondering how we know each other, aren't you sir?" Hammond looked at the major in surprise; he hadn't been that obvious had he? "After working here for six years I'd like to think I'm pretty adept at reading your facial expressions sir. And to answer your question the good doctor here is my aunt."

"Your aunt?" Trent spoke this time. That explained how Axle knew her as well, since he and Skyler had been friends since they were little kids, but there couldn't have been more than four or five years between Elizabeth and Skyler.

"Let's just say there's a big age gap between Elizabeth and my mom." Skyler knew what Trent was thinking, it was the same thing most people thought when they found out the he and Elizabeth were aunt and nephew. Although to be honest he thought of Elizabeth as more of a sister or cousin than an aunt. "But that's neither here nor there."

"Of course, now if you'll excuse me I have some things to take care of before I leave for Washington." Hammond rose from his seat. "I'll leave you to your debriefing." The military personnel in the room rose as well as Hammond left, before sitting back down.

"Well since these grunts aren't looking to do any introductions allow me to introduce myself, I'm Dr. Trent Jamsen, but most people call me Brain, since I'm a certifiable genius."

"Oh he's certifiable alright." Travis muttered under his breath, ignoring the 'I can kill you with my brain' look Trent sent him. "I'm Sgt. Travis Connor or as everyone calls me 'Blue' like code blue cause I'm a field medic." Once all the introductions were done the group got down to business.

An hour later the meeting broke up. While the others went off to do their post mission thing, Skyler caught up with Elizabeth. "Hey you doing anything important right now?"

"Not at the moment." Elizabeth gathered her things off the briefing table.

"Good, its chow time let's go. It's supposed to be taco day in the commissary."

"Don't you need to do your post mission check up?"

"It can wait a few, my team's been to that planet before so we know there's nothing dangerous. Besides I'm starving, we had to leave it a hurry didn't have time to eat." He didn't give his aunt much choice, but to join him as he slung an arm over her shoulder and led the way out.

--

"So what've you been up to since we last talked?" Skyler asked as he and Elizabeth grabbed their food and sat down.

"Nothing new really. I've been teaching a poli-sci class at Georgetown, but other than that pretty much the same old some old." Elizabeth replied.

"Teaching…" Skyler gave a soft huff, shaking his head as he dug into his lunch.

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing…that's great. It's just…teaching?"

"What's wrong with teaching?" She gave him a warning glare.

"Nothing, you just never struck me as the type of person to be happy with a teaching job, especially with the successful political career you've had."

"For your information it was only for the one semester and I only agreed to do it in order to help out a friend."

"Right so how exactly did all of that lead to you getting a job here, let alone actually taking the job?" That question had been bugging Skyler since he'd found out that his aunt was basically his new boss. The woman was the biggest anti-military person he knew, next to his grandpa. As was evidenced by the huge fight he'd had with his aunt when she'd found out he'd joined Air Force – Elizabeth hadn't spoken to him for almost a year afterwards.

"Honestly I have no idea why the president gave me this job. But the fact is he did and I figured that the best way to see the changes I'd like to see made within the military was to help make them myself. And what better way to do that than by working from inside one of this nation's most top secret projects in history." Elizabeth gave Skyler a look that just dared him to challenge her. While she understood why her nephew had joined the Air Force – he'd wanted to be a pilot just like his dad – it was still one of those things they would most likely never see eye to eye on.

"Anyway on to other topics," Skyler wasn't an idiot he knew when to drop a subject. "You still dating that Simon guy or whatever the hell his name was?"

"Yes Simon and I are still seeing each other." Elizabeth sat back in her seat a sly grin on her face that instantly had Skyler squirming in his seat. "What about you, any girlfriends running around the area? I bet the women around here are just throwing themselves at you."

"I wish," He let out a longing sigh. "A job like mine doesn't leave much room for a social life."

"Yeah I can imagine that saving the world from alien invaders on a weekly basis can be killer on the social life." Elizabeth shook her head slightly; she still couldn't believe it all. "So tell me some more about the rest of your team."

"Well obviously you know Coop already. He's still the troublemaker he always was, but there's no one I trust more to be out there watching my back. Brain, like he said, is a genius, he graduated high school and started college when he was fourteen. He has a PhD in ancient Greek and Egyptian mythology, a masters degree in archeology – though he's been debating on whether or not to go for a PhD in that one – and a bachelors in astronomy and math."

"Blue is a medic through and through. He wanted to be a doctor but couldn't afford to pay for med school so he joined the army with one of those two-year contracts hoping to save up. They trained him to be a field medic and all that stuff and he had no intention of reenlisting but when he only had about six moths left to go he got assigned here and fell in love with the job. So instead of leaving to go to med school Blue reenlisted and has been working here ever since."

The two spent an hour chatting and catching up on old times, before they were both called back to work. Watching as her nephew went off to do what ever it was he did while on base Elizabeth felt herself breathing just a little bit easier. She knew she wasn't going to get the warmest of welcomes especially from the military personnel, but knowing that she had at least one person on base that would stand by her no matter what, made her new job not feel so overwhelming.

--

(Several months later)

"Major what can I do for you?" General O'Neill questioned, looking up from the pile of paper work in front of him at Skyler as the man knocked on the open door.

"I was hoping to speak with you about the Atlantis expedition, sir." Skyler stepped further into the room. "As I'm sure you know I'm one of the few people so far that possess the Ancient gene and I'd like to join the expedition."

"Good they'll need all the gene carriers they can get, but that's Weir's department not mine. You'll have to speak with her."

"That's the thing sir, I have. And while she has no problem with the rest of my team, who have also volunteered for the expedition…"

"You on the other hand she has a problem with." Jack wasn't surprised, if his and Weir's positions were reversed and a member of his family wanted to go on a possibly one-way trip he'd have issues with it too.

"Yes sir, and while I understand her reasoning, Elizabeth has no idea what's really out there, what this expedition could be walking into. I feel like I need to be there to watch her back and keep her safe…" He paused to scrub a hand through his hair. "It's not that I don't trust the other's that will be going sir, it's just that…"

"She's family." Jack had a pretty good idea where Skyler was going with this.

"Yeah, and out of everyone here I suspect that you understand that better than anyone, sir. Even though you trust everyone here with your life, when Colonel Carter or Dr. Jackson, hell even Teal'c go off world with another team and you're not there to watch their backs, can you honestly say that you completely trust the members of that team to bring you teammate back alive and in one piece?"

If Jack was honest the answer was no, one of the hardest things he found he was having trouble adjusting to with his new job was the fact that he couldn't always be there to watch his team's backs any more. He had to admit the kid knew how to make his case – probably had something to do with having both an aunt and a grandfather who were negotiators. "I'll talk to Weir, see what I can do."

"Thank you sir." Skyler left the office as Jack waved him out.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Sorry if this chapter seems rushed, but my muse decided to take a vacation for this chapter, plus I haven't slept in two days – God insomnia sucks.

--

Four days later after his talk with the general, Skyler was in Antarctica. Stepping off the helicopter that had brought him and a few scientists from McMurdo to the Ancient outpost, he had to bite his tongue to keep from swearing out loud at how cold it was; he was really not a fan of the cold having grown up in warmer climates.

Shoving his hands into his jean pockets, Skyler hunched his shoulders forward slightly trying to conserve body heat. Stepping onto the elevator that would take the group down to the research facility, it took every once of control Skyler had to keep himself from visibly shivering. He was a major in the United States Air Force and there was no way in hell he was going to let a bunch of beakers see how much the cold was getting to him.

When the elevator reached it's destination Skyler watched as the scientists stepped out and looked about with wonder and trepidation at all the strange objects and technology in the room. Yeah, this bunch was definitely a batch of newbies with no knowledge of the Stargate or anything associated with it.

It wasn't long before he spied Elizabeth, followed by Grodin - if he remembered right - moving to greet the group. After a quick welcoming speech from Elizabeth, the scientists were off, following after Grodin to the rooms they'd be staying in so they could unpack.

"About damn time." Skyler muttered as he pulled his hands out of his pockets to blow some warm air on them and started bouncing on his feet a bit trying to get his blood flowing to warm himself up. "God, I hate the cold. Have I mentioned that fact?"

"Numerous times, but you're the one who wanted to be here." Elizabeth couldn't help the small smile that formed as she took in here nephew's choice of clothing. "It wouldn't be so bad if you were actually dressed appropriately for the climate."

Skyler was currently wearing a pair of mangled sneakers that were more duct tape than shoe; she couldn't believe he still had the damn things - he'd had them since high school, said they were the most comfortable shoes he'd ever worn and would wear them to the grave, no matter how roughed up and mangled they got - that's what he had duct tape for. He had on black colored, slightly loose fitting jeans, a skin tight black t-shirt, which showed off his muscular build nicely, a red, unbuttoned, button up shirt; long sleeved or short, she couldn't tell due to the light weight leather jacket he wore to finish off the outfit.

"Hold it right there before you go lecturing me." He held up a finger to halt any oncoming lecture. "There is a perfectly reasonable explanation for why I'm not dressed appropriately; the military lost my bag." Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at that. "I know it's a shock the military loosing something. Somewhere along the line there was a mix up and my bag was put on the wrong military transport, but they assure me the matter is being looked into and hope to have my bag back to me by the end of the week. 'Til then I literally have nothing but the clothes on my back, that I'd been wearing when I left Colorado - I was off duty at the time and there was no way in hell I was wearing my uniform for the trip all the way out here.

A fully formed grin on her face Elizabeth gently grabbed Skyler's arm leading him away from the elevator. "C'mon I'm sure we can find somebody around here that's about your size and would be willing to lone you some warmer clothes for the time being."

--

Standing topside of the out post – but still within the glass dome – Skyler kept his hands jammed deep into the pockets of the coat he'd barrowed off one of the military grunts – it had been over a month and still no sign of his bag. He hated Antarctica, it was his least favorite place to be, it was so bleak and cold and…cold, but it was where Elizabeth was, which meant no matter how much he hated the place he wasn't going anywhere. It was like he'd told O'Neill, Elizabeth was family and like his dad had always said family looks out for family.

Speaking of O'Neill, Skyler quickly pulled his hand out of his pocket to check his watch, damn it would be another ten minutes before his helicopter landed. Why he was the one that had to greet the general topside Skyler didn't know, but if he ever found out who had "volunteered" him for the job, they were going to get their ass kicked.

Pacing around Skyler paused, the hairs on the back of his neck rising. Not questioning his instincts – years of working at the SGC made sure he never did – Skyler dove to the ground just in time to miss being hit by the drone that had shot out of the elevator shaft and then broke through the glass dome above his head.

"What the hell is going on down there?" He called into his radio, pulling himself up and heading for the elevator only to find that it was on it's way back down. Stuck topside for the time being all Skyler could do was listen to the chatter over the radio.

"We have a rogue drone on the loose, sir." Lt. Ford's voice came over the radio in response to Skyler's question.

"Shit," Knowing that there were at least two inbound crafts in the air Skyler quickly switched his radio to the channel that all inbound crafts used. "All inbound craft, we have a rogue drone that could seek a target on its own. Land immediately and shut down your engines. This is not a drill. I repeat this is not a drill."

After waiting several tense moments Skyler let out a sigh of relief when Major Sheppard's voice came over the radio reporting that drone appeared to have been incapacitated and the helicopter was unharmed and on its way again, only seven minutes out.

--

"General, sir it's good to see you're alright." Skyler greeted as he approached the man getting out of the helicopter.

"Yes it is." Jack paused before ducking back into the helicopter. "Have something for you Major." He pulled out a duffle bag, tossing it to said man.

"It's about damn time." Skyler muttered as he did a quick inventory to make sure nothing was missing from his bag.

Shaking his head Jack headed for the entrance to the dome, "Daniel waiting at the bottom of the pit?"

"Where else, I don't think that man has left the out post since he got here." Skyler slung the bag over his shoulder following after the general.

"Right." Seeing that Sheppard was still standing by the helicopter Jack motioned for the man to follow.

"Sir?" John was surprised that the general wanted him to follow, especially since he didn't have the security clearance.

"If it's your clearance you worried about, consider yourself cleared, Major." Jack called over his shoulder as he entered the dome headed for the elevator.

Seeing the confused look on Sheppard's face Skyler patted the man on the shoulder before pushing him towards the door. "Don't think about it too much, you're liable to give yourself a headache. Just go with the flow."

--

There should be a law against people being so bright and cheerful first thing in the morning. Really–there should. As it was, all Skyler could do was lean against the wall of the SGC elevator and attempt to block out the enthusiastic squawks of the girl next to him as the elevator descended to level 28. He couldn't get off the elevator fast enough when it finally reached its destination – he couldn't help the sigh of relief that escaped when the woman didn't get off with him.

Navigating is way through the maze of people and equipment being prepared and checked for the trip through the gate, Skyler reached the Control room only to be greeted by another overly bright and cheerful person. Glaring at Elizabeth he grunted, shamelessly swiping the cup of coffee out of her hands.

"Morning to you too." Elizabeth was too excited to let her nephew's mood dampen her mood. She had been waiting for this day for months.

Giving another grunt Skyler finished the coffee handing the empty cup to a passing airman to deal with. Shaking her head Elizabeth turned to look through the window down at all the activity down in the Gate room. Seeing Colonel Sumner in the gate room Skyler decided he should probably go report in.

A short time later after getting geared up Skyler stood in the Gate room, which was filling up with scientists, military personnel, and equipment, watching as Elizabeth entered calling for everyone's attention moving to stand on the gate ramp.

"All right here we go. We are about to try to make a connection. We have been unable to predict…"

Listening as she gave her speech Skyler allowed his gaze to travel over the room taking in the faces he would get to know over their indefinite time together.

"Begin the dialing sequence."

As alarms sounded and the Gate began to spin he watched Elizabeth step off the gate ramp and exit the room headed for the Gate room. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her this excited or nervous. Not even for her first diplomatic mission to a foreign country had she been like she was at that moment.

"_As long as you remember who's giving the orders."_

Colonel Sumner's voice brought Skyler out of his thoughts. Looking to see what had the man in a huff already, he wasn't surprised to see the colonel staring Major Sheppard down.

"_That would be Doctor Weir, right?"_

Score one for the major. It was no secret that Sumner didn't want Sheppard as a part of the expedition, but the major didn't seem to be bothered by the man's obvious distain, just let it all roll off his back.

When the Stargate activated the scientists in the Gate room applaud and some of them even whistled. It wasn't long after that that Sumner started to give orders for the first security team to proceed.

"Security teams one and two, you're up first. All other personnel will follow on our signal. Once on the other side, keep moving, clear the debarkation area. On my lead."

Raising his P-90 into a ready position Skyler prepared to follow Sumner through the gate, but stopped when Elizabeth entered the room saying they would go through together. That had Skyler tensing up – that had definitely not been apart of his plan. Knowing that it wouldn't do any good to try and talk her into waiting he stepped up to the wormhole hesitating slightly to glance over his shoulder at Elizabeth before stepping through the gate.

--

Skyler knew from the moment Sumner recalled all of the security teams back to the Gate room that something was going on, but since he'd been put in charge of making sure all the equipment got stored away safely and that none of the civilians wandered off he wasn't sure of the exact details.

Seeing the little wave that Sheppard gave Elizabeth before he stepped through the gate after Sumner's team Skyler made a mental note to keep an eye on the major, incase the man got any ideas – it was one thing for the man to be friends with his aunt, but quite another if he thought there could be something more. Pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind Skyler went back to work.

"Attention all personnel. This is Weir. Stand by for immediate evacuation"

Skyler's head snapped up from the small handheld computer he'd been looking at when he heard Elizabeth's voice over the radio. Evacuation…just what the hell was going on? Handing the handheld off to another soldier he was about to make his way up to the control room to find out what was going on when the city started to shake. Stumbling he braced himself against the large staircase in the Gate room just as the gate activated and Sheppard came through followed by the rest of the marines and who he assumed were the natives of the planet they'd just been on.

Getting his feet under him again Skyler started walking again when suddenly the city jolted so hard that many people were thrown off their feet. One of the civilians that had been in front of him fell backwards and with out thinking about it Skyler threw his arms out to catch her. Getting a look at the woman in his arms he felt his breath catch. She had shoulder length black hair and the greenest eyes he'd ever seen, she was obviously of Asian decent – probably a paternal grandparent.

Snapping out of his haze Skyler helped steady the woman on her feet then headed for the control room. He made his way over to the huge window, and crowded around with the other expedition members. They were high up, in a tower, looking down over a an endless ocean of dark blue water.


	3. Chapter 3

Standing off to the side away from the party Skyler watched as the members of the expedition and the Athosians mingled sharing in the relief of being alive and the excitement of the city. He'd never really been one of those types that liked big parties and large crowds he got enough action and excitement from his job he didn't need to carry it over into his off hours. No his idea of relaxing was just kicking back and indulging in one of his favorite pastimes – people watching.

Besides he figured he should enjoy the peace and quite while he could since he was now the second in command of the military personnel. He and Sheppard may have both been majors, but Sheppard had been a major two years longer than Skyler, which technically meant Sheppard out ranked him.

"Didn't take you as the anti-social type."

The unexpected voice caused Skyler to startle slightly. Looking to his right he was surprised to see the woman from earlier – the one he'd kept from falling on her ass when the city had risen – standing next to him holding a mug out to him. Suddenly tongue tied it took a moment for Skyler to form a coherent thought, let alone a coherent sentence.

Giving himself a mental slap Skyler took the proffered mug, "Thanks and for your information I'm not being anti-social, I'm people watching, there's a difference."

"Well don't let me interrupt." The woman smiled, turning to leave.

God, that smile… "Wait you don't have to go. Some company would be nice, it's always more fun to people watch with another person."

The two stood in a comfortable silence for a moment. "So major you don't seem to be as awed or overwhelmed as most people by everything that's happed so far."

"Same shit, different place that's all." Skyler shrugged. "Don't get me wrong I'm fascinated by this whole city and what we might find, maybe even a little scared, but I worked at the SGC for six years so I don't get as easily worked up over these things as I used to. I will admit this though, as weird as it may sound I think I'd rather take the Wraith over the Goa'uld. I'd rather have the life sucked out of me and have it end then and there, rather than have my body taken over by a symbiote."

"I may not know much or anything really about the Goa'uld since I only learned about the Stargate about a month before we left earth, but going off of what little I do know, I think I'd have to agree with you on that point."

"Hey, Sky there you are, I've been lookin' all over for you." Blue appeared out of nowhere slinging an arm over his buddy's shoulders. "C'mon Axle's got a poker game going, time for us to hustle some beakers."

"Yeah give me five minutes." Skyler shrugged Blue off, turning back to his companion just in time to see her heading back into the crowd. "Wait, where're you going?"

"Me, I'm going to mingle. You have fun with your hustling." She continued moving away.

"Hold on I don't even know your name yet…or do angels not have names jut pretty faces?" He paused not believing what had just come out of his mouth. "Sorry that was pretty sad and pathetic, wasn't it?"

"A little bit yeah, but I've heard worst."

"Sooo…you're name?"

"For me to know and you to find out." She gave him a devilish smile. "Can't have you thinking I'm easy, now can I?" With that she disappeared into the crowd.

Blue chuckled seeing the stunned look on his friend's face as he stared after the woman. "Forget about her Sky, she's way out of your league." He grasped his friend's shoulders and steered him away.

"Wait do you know who she is?" Skyler turned questioning eyes on his friend.

"Her name's Aria Chen. She's the head physical therapist and doubles as an RN in the infirmary. I think I also heard something about her having a masters degree in psychology or something like that, so she divides her time between working in the infirmary and helping Heightmeyer out with whatever. But like I said she's out of your league so save yourself the pain and leave it alone."

Skyler ignored his friend's advice turning his head to look after where Aria had disappeared. She had thrown down the gauntlet and it couldn't be said that Skyler was one to back down from a good challenge.

--

A few days later Skyler wandered through the corridors leading to the science labs in search of Brain. The man hadn't been at breakfast, which wasn't anything unusual Brain had a habit of getting so caught up in his work that he forgot to eat sometimes. Skyler wasn't worried, but decided he should probably haul the younger man out of the lab to eat before Beckett came down on the man for not taking care of himself.

"Come on, you've been threatening to shoot me since we met, here's your chance!" Skyler paused at hearing McKay's voice coming from one of the labs. Curious he stepped just inside the doorway.

"This is insane McKay, I'm not going to shoot you." Sheppard answered back.

"Come on!" Rodney pleaded. "You just saw how well it works. Make it a flesh wound or something."

"McKay…"

"Come on, you _know_ you want to! Just one shot."

"I'll do it." Skyler spoke up. He wasn't sure what exactly was going on but if McKay wanted someone to shoot him and Sheppard wasn't willing to do it then he would.

"What?" Both McKay and Sheppard had been caught off guard.

"I'll gladly shoot you McKay, if Sheppard doesn't want to."

"Should I be worried about how eager you are to shoot me?" McKay questioned, folding his arms.

"Hey remember I worked at the SGC for six years, so I was there both times you were there. And while you got to leave and go do whatever at the end of the day the rest of us had to deal with a pissed off Carter for at least a week each time – especially after that dumb blonde comment of yours, which I gotta say was not one of your finer moments. Any way a pissed off Carter is a scary Carter and I mean a fear for your life kind of scary. So believe me when I say if you were in my shoes you wouldn't hesitate to shoot you."

"In that case go for it." Sheppard stepped aside, gesturing towards McKay.

"What?" McKay nearly squeaked.

"Hey it was your idea to be shot to see how well that personal shield works." Sheppard shrugged.

"Fine." McKay huffed.

"Nice." Skyler pulled out his side arm.

Deciding Elizabeth wouldn't be happy if he accidentally killed her head scientist he aimed at McKay's leg. There was a loud 'bang' as the bullet discharged but nothing more exciting happened. The bullet just stopped in a burst of neon green, dropping harmlessly to the ground. Skyler forced himself not to be disappointed that the bullet had been stopped.

"I knew it!" McKay exclaimed smugly. "Quick let's try something else."

"As much as I'd love to watch you bash yourself around, we have a meeting to get to." Sheppard grabbed the giddy scientist's arm dragging him out of the lab. Holstering his weapon Skyler followed after them.

Reaching the control room with a few moments to spare Sheppard and Skyler leaned up against the balcony railing while McKay bounced over to a nearby consol. Looking down at the Gate room below both Sheppard and Skyler suddenly got the same devilish looks on their faces.

"Hey McKay…" Sheppard drew the scientist's attention.

--

"_OK, I'm ready."_

Making their way up the stairs to the Gate room Elizabeth and Peter stopped when they heard McKay's voice. Looking in the direction of his voice, they saw him standing with his back to the balcony of the Control room with Sheppard standing in front of him. They stared in horror as John deliberately pushed Rodney backwards over the balcony, causing him to plunge to the floor of the Gate room about thirty feet below.

"Did you _see_ that?" John grinned excitedly.

"Yes! What the...?" Elizabeth was confused.

"I give the landing a five!" The sound of her nephew's voice coming from the Gate room caused Elizabeth to look down where she saw Rodney jumped up from the floor, raising his hands and smiling.

"I'm fine!" Rodney called then turned to Skyler. "And what do you mean you only giving the landing a five?"

"You were supposed to land on your feet not your hands and knees." Skyler shrugged, a grin on his face. Grinning John bound down the large staircase followed by Elizabeth and Peter.

Rodney chose to ignore Skyler, instead turning to face Elizabeth. "Look, Beckett's gene therapy worked. I was able to activate this. It's a, uh, personal shield: acts like a protective skin; and it must have inertial dampening properties too, because I didn't feel a thing. Watch this," He turned to Grodin. "Hit me."

Without hesitation, Grodin threw a punch at McKay's face. His first impacted with the shield, which stopped the punch cold. "Ow, God!" He cradled his hand as nearby Athosian children laughed.

"You didn't have to swing so hard," he looked at a grinning Sheppard and Skyler. "And notice he didn't even hesitate."

"I'm still trying to understand how you thought it was a good idea to test this device by having someone throw you off a balcony." Elizabeth was surprised by the child like actions of the three men standing before her.

McKay smiled, "Oh, believe me, that's not the first thing we tried."

Skyler grinned impishly, "I shot him." Elizabeth stared at him incredulously. His smile faded a little. "In the leg!"

"I'm invulnerable!" Rodney held his arms out to his side.

"Aren't you the one who's always spouting off about how proper and careful scientific procedure must be adhered to?" Yeah she was definitely surrounded by children.

"Invulnerable." Rodney spoke in a singsong voice.

"Alright, take it off. Let's go have this meeting." Elizabeth started back up the stairs.

"You're just jealous." Rodney sulked.

"Oh yes, green with envy!" As she turned back to him, McKay reached for the device on his chest, but the green force shield appeared between him and the device. He tried again.

"This could be a problem." He tried again. "I can't get at it."

Skyler reached for the device but the force shield stopped him too. "Just checkin'."

--

Walking though the corridors Skyler was tense and on edge; it had nothing to do with the giant energy cloud roaming the city. Passing some of the Athosians' quarters he shied away from the open doorways and all of the lit candles they had burning. Entering the control room he watched as Elizabeth lit a candle of her own and the room darkened.

He knew it was irrational to be so edgy and agitated by something as innocuous as a lit candle, but that didn't stop him from being that way. He knew first hand what kind of damage and pain that innocuous little flame, that tiny little spark of fire could cause. Standing at the back of the room, staying as far away from the lit candles as he could without actually looking like that was what he was trying to do Skyler listened to McKay and Sheppard snark at each other over the radio.

Out of the corner of her eye Elizabeth noticed Skyler enter the control room, even from her position across the room she could see that he was tense. She frowned slightly when he backed further away as she lit the candle she had with her. Elizabeth had a pretty good idea what it was that was bothering her nephew; all of the lit candles had to be bringing back some bad memories for the younger man. Making a mental note to talk with him and make sure he was okay after this was all over, she ordered Peter to cut the power.

--

"_We don't know if the M.A.L.P. is still down there."_

From his place at the back of the room Skyler watched as McKay reached into his jacket and took out the shield device.

McKay looked down at the shield device with a look of dread on his face. He attached it to his chest it stuck there and lit up. As the darkness continued to boil around the Gate room and the others stared on in horror at it, McKay gazed at them for a moment, his face full of despair, then he turned and walked to the top of the stairs.

For a brief second Skyler debated speaking up but squashed the thought. Despite McKay's arrogance and bluster Skyler trusted him to get the job done. McKay was the type of man that despite being weak and cowardly on the outside harbored a strength of character he didn't even know he had.

"McKay?" Sheppard called, noticing McKay heading down the stairs. He started after the scientist.

"Rodney!" Elizabeth called as McKay entered the energy cloud.

Unable to see what was happening they all stared anxiously down at the Gate room. Slowly the darkness started to clear from the Gate room, revealing the M.A.L.P. and McKay lying flat on his back on the floor. As the gate closed Sheppard raced down the stairs, kneeling down next to McKay reaching for his wrist to check his pulse. Elizabeth, Teyla and Peter ran down from the Control Room to join John. Skyler called for a medical team to the Gate room before joining them himself.


	4. Chapter 4

"_We'll talk about this later."_

"_Never again. Go…Go!"_

"You know in a place like this accidents are bound to happen." Skyler spoke as he pushed off the consol he'd been leaning against. After hearing about what was going on with Sheppard's team he'd come up to the control room to see if there was anything he could do to help. He'd gotten there just in time to hear the conversation between Elizabeth and Kavanagh. "It'd be a shame if something were to happen to Kavanagh."

Elizabeth heard the underlying threat reflected in her nephew's tone. And while she appreciated the sentiment – and even if Kavanagh deserved it – she wouldn't stand for that kind of behavior among those under her command.

"Yes it would, and if I hear about any "accidents" happening to Kavanagh you'll be the first person I go looking for. So no threatening the man, understood?"

"Hey, who said anything about threatening anybody?" He put on an innocent face. "All I'm saying is accidents happen."

"I mean it Skyler." She gave him her best 'don't mess with me' look. "The man may be an ass, but I don't want any "accidents" happening." She started walking towards her office again.

"You're the boss." He shrugged, following after her.

--

"_Thank you, Lieutenant. Rodney, you have seven minutes."_

Seeing the worried look on Elizabeth's face as she moved to the balcony over looking the gate Skyler moved to stand next to her. He folded his arms leaning back against the railing.

"They'll be fine." He reassured.

"You sound pretty confident about that." She looked at his face seeing the absolute resolve there.

"I am. I know we haven't been here that long but I can tell you already that, that team is the SG-1 of the Pegasus galaxy. And in case you hadn't noticed SG-1 has a surprisingly high knack for pulling their asses out of the fire and making it home alive. So yeah I'm confident that they'll be fine."

"I hope you're right." Elizabeth let out a soft sight then turned to Peter. "Time?"

--

"_Thirty seconds."_

Anxiously everyone in the control room waited for the jumper to come through the gate. Cheers and applauses rang through out the room as the jumper finally came through the gate and the wormhole shut down. Catching Elizabeth's eye from across the room Skyler gave her a knowing smile. She returned the smile then turned to leave the room rushing down to the jumper bay.

Later Skyler stood propped up against the wall outside the infirmary doors waiting for Elizabeth. "Told you they'd be fine." He stated as soon as she stepped out of the door.

"Yes you did." Elizabeth didn't miss a beat, she was starting to get used to her nephew popping up on her in all kinds of places. "And I'm glad you were right."

"I have my moments." Shrugging he pushed off the wall, falling in step with his aunt.

--

Entering the infirmary with his team for their pre-mission physicals, Skyler smiled at seeing that Aria was working there today. In the few weeks they'd been in Atlantis Skyler had grilled everyone from Brain to Carson to Elizabeth, hell even Heightmeyer for information about her.

When it came to Aria he puzzled himself sometimes, never once in his life had he worked so hard to get a girl to notice him, in fact he'd _never_ had to work for a girl's attention before. He knew there were plenty of other women in the city that would be interested in him and a lot less work, but there was just something about Aria that wouldn't let him walk away.

"Hey, fancy meeting you here." Skyler hopped up onto the bed near where Aria was working to organize an instrument tray.

"Yes imagine that, you running into me in the place I work." Aria raised an eyebrow at him. "So is there a reason for you being here or do you just feel like bugging me?" She turned back to her work.

"Pre-mission physical." He didn't let her indifference bother him. "Weir's finally okayed gate travel again. My team's going off world with Sheppard's in a bit."

"Good, that means you have less time to bug me." The slight smirk on her face told Skyler that she wasn't seriously bothered by his attention.

"Ah, right through the heart." He dramatically placed a hand over his heart.

"Hey Romeo enough with the flirting, get a move on." Axle, done with his physical, threw a pillow at his friend as he slid off the bed he'd been sitting on and started for the door.

"Somebody's anxious to go off world." Aria chuckled as she started checking his vitals.

"Yeah, I think he's starting to get cabin fever."

Finished with his physical Skyler and the rest of his team geared up then met up with Sheppard's team. Entering the gate room the two teams were met by Elizabeth.

"Anxious to step through the Gate again, Major?" Elizabeth greeted Sheppard.

"Yes, I am." Sheppard agreed.

"We all are." Teyla added.

"Would you like us to bring back anything special?" Sheppard joked.

"Uh, no thanks." Elizabeth gave a slight shake of her head.

"Groceries? New outfit? Flatware?"

"Hmm. No – just yourselves in one piece, please." She turned to call up to the Control Room to start dialing the gate. As the Gate started to dial, she turned back to Sheppard and the others. "Be safe." Her gaze briefly flicked over Sheppard's shoulder to look at Skyler. "And please try to stay out of trouble." She walked away as the gate activated.

Skyler gave her a 'why are you looking at me?' look – it wasn't his team that was always getting into trouble – as he turned to follow the others through the gate.

--

Sitting on one of the fallen pillars Skyler took in the ruins around him. Very little remained, just some columns, many of them fallen, a few plinths and some small walls. While Brain and McKay did their beaker stuff and Teyla and Ford went to try and make contact with the locals, Sheppard, Skyler, Blue, and Axle kept watch.

"Can we go home yet?" Blue questioned as he came over to Skyler's position.

"Wraith!" Sheppard's yell cut off anything Skyler was about to say. "Back to the gate now!"

As the Wraith burst out from the trees Sheppard, Skyler, and Axle laid down cover fire while Blue ushered the two scientists towards cover. Once the scientists where behind cover the three shoulders fell back taking better cover of their own.

"Move out!" Major Sheppard ordered.

As the group bolted for the gate Sheppard took a hit with a blast from a Wraith stunner. While he and Axle continued to lay down cover fire, Skyler ordered McKay and Blue to grab Sheppard.

"What about Teyla and Ford?" McKay questioned as he and Blue grabbed Sheppard.

"NOW!" Skyler yelled to be heard over the gunfire.

Reaching the gate Brain quickly dialed Atlantis and the group hurried through. On the other side McKay and Blue dragged Sheppard out of the way as a med team descended upon them.

"Shut it down! They're right behind us!" Skyler ordered the technician in the control room.

As the gate shut down and the med team wheeled Sheppard out of the room Elizabeth hurried down the large staircase. Skyler and McKay moved to meet her.

"We have to go back." McKay demanded.

"Teyla, Lieutenant Ford?" Elizabeth questioned not seeing the two.

"Still on the planet. We have to go back now!"

"I'd advise against it. You have Wraith all over the Gate." Skyler spoke up. As much as he hated to say it, it was the truth.

"We _can't_ just leave them there!"

"I'm not saying we should, but Doc even you have to know that going back right now without a plan would be suicide."

"Let's take this elsewhere gentlemen." Elizabeth interjected. The gate room was not the place for this conversation. As she led the way back up the staircase she requested Sgt. Bates' presence in the control room.

"How many?" Elizabeth questioned later as they all gathered in the control room.

"It's hard to say. Most of them were behind the tree line." Skyler answered.

"We're wasting time here. We need to mount a rescue operation." McKay made his opinion known.

"I am not going to send anyone through that Gate until I have all the facts, Doctor. How did Teyla and Lieutenant Ford get separated from you?"

"They went to check out the area and try to make contact with some of the natives." Skyler jumped in before McKay could answer and possibly go off on a rant that would cost valuable time.

"And whose idea was that?" Bates inquired.

"Mine." Everyone turned to see Sheppard walking into the Control Room. "She was following my orders."

"Shouldn't you be back at the Infirmary?" Elizabeth used her diplomatic tone as she watched Sheppard sit down, wincing.

"No, I'm fine. I didn't take a full blast." Sheppard replied.

"Why didn't you go with them, Major?"

"Well, the natives of that planet are easily spooked. Teyla thought we'd scare them off with a big group."

Bates snorted, "Teyla did."

"What's that, Sergeant?" Sheppard turned his attention to the head of security.

"She was conveniently absent during the ambush."

"So was Ford! Maybe it was him." McKay cut in.

Knowing that the two soldiers were having a pointless argument that was wasting time Skyler partially tuned them out while he tried to think up all the possible scenarios that could happen when – not if, he had no doubt they would be going back – they returned to the planet.

He was brought out of his thoughts by the activation of the gate. Not having had the chance to stow his gear away Skyler still had his P-90, grabbing it he rushed down to the gate room taking up a defensive position with the other soldiers on gate duty.

--

Back on the planet with their trap set Sheppard's team, Skyler, Axle, and a marine watched as a male Wraith and three guards made their way through the ruins. Receiving the signal from Teyla the marine sheltering with her pressed a button and claymores exploded near the Wraith who started to run for cover behind the ruins.

Immediately Skyler and Axle pulled the pins from a couple of stun grenades and hurled them over a wall towards the Wraith. As the grenades exploded, the Wraiths broke cover and started to run. Sheppard and McKay rose up from behind the wall and fired at the Wraiths, taking down one of the guards.

Teyla and the marine with her fired at one of the guards running towards them. It cried out and dropped to the ground. As firing continued all around them, Teyla ran out and fired another round of bullets into the guard until her rifle jammed. Sheppard and McKay fired at the third guard, taking it down. It laid on the ground for a moment, then sat up and started to get up. Ford and the other soldiers started towards it.

Sheppard stopped them, "This one's ours, boys. Tasers."

Pulling out their tasers the group fired at the downed Wraith. Once it collapsed Sheppard approached the Wraith flipping it over. Instantly the guard slapped one hand to a round device on the armour on its chest. The device lit up and started to beep.

"It's a self destruct! Take cover!" Sheppard yelled. He and McKay ran in one direction and Ford and the others ran the other way as the device exploded.

As the dust from the explosion dissipated Skyler lifted his head coughing. Listening as Ford called out to Sheppard and McKay he turned his head looking for Axle and the marine, making sure they were okay.

Assured that they were alright he flopped over onto his back with a groan, "I think I'm getting too old for this crap." Shaking his head Skyler forced himself to his feet, to go help Sheppard with the last Wraith.


	5. Chapter 5

Walking into the locker room Skyler headed for his locker and started to get geared up. Axle and Blue were already there; Axle almost done gearing up and Blue about half way done.

"Sky." Axle greeted as he tied his bootlaces.

"Coop." Skyler nodded pulling his tactical vest out of the locker. "Where's Brain?"

"Don't know." Blue replied. "He wasn't at breakfast."

"Speaking of the devil." Axle muttered as Brain came strolling into the room, whistling and with a dopey grin on his face.

"Dopey grin, whistling…looks like somebody got lucky last night." Blue smirked.

"Awww our little boy's growing up." Axle teased the youngest member of the team.

"Shut up, Coop." Brain took a halfhearted swipe at the man.

"Feel like sharing with the rest of the class?" Skyler inquired clipping his P-90 to his vest.

"You're not gonna believe it."

"Spill already!" Blue tossed a bandage roll from his vest at Brain.

"Jenny Carmichael."

"You're full of shit." Axle shook his head.

"I shit you not." Brain crossed a finger over his heart.

"Jenny Carmichael? From biology, that Carmichael?" Skyler raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

"I know, I know, she's supposed to be this shy girl, but last night she was anything but shy." He got a smug grin on his face, tossing the bandage roll back to Blue. "Though I have to say she's bigger than those science uniforms lead you to believe."

"Seriously?" Blue tucked the bandage back into his vest.

"Yeah man, she was like a walrus making these fat sounds; thwap, thwap, thwap. But the way I see it being stuck here with no idea when or even if we'll ever make it back to earth, you gotta get it when you can."

"You have no shame, Brain." Skyler chuckled. "Now come on we better get to the Gate room before Weir sends somebody after us."

--

Two days later Brain entered the mess hall looking to get some diner. Grabbing his food he made his way over to the table where Skyler and Sheppard were sitting.

"Heads up." Skyler spoke seeing Jenny headed their way. She didn't look happy.

Looking behind him, Brain put on his charming smile. "Hey Jenny." He put his tray down and turned to fully face the less than happy looking woman.

"A walrus going thwap, thwap, thwap?" Oh yeah Jenny was pissed.

"Uh?" Brain was caught off guard.

"I'll show you thwap." Before Brain could even think to react Jenny swung the empty food tray she had in her hands, smacking him _hard_ upside the head.

Brain went down like a log, while Jenny swiveled around and stormed out of the room. Too stunned by what had just happened nobody moved to stop her.

"Remind me never to piss her off." Skyler spoke to Sheppard as he moved to haul a dazed Brain off the ground and drag him out of the room to the infirmary.

--

Standing in the infirmary watching as Carson stitched up Brain's head Skyler had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing. Sure Brain was his friend but if he was honest the guy had it coming, he should've known better than to refer to a woman as a fat mammal, even if he thought it was in confidence. For a genius Brain could be pretty stupid at times.

"What happened?" Elizabeth demanded as she came to stand next to Skyler. "I just got a call from John saying he was holding Dr. Carmichael in the brig. Something about her attacking Dr. Jamsen with a food tray?"

"Yeah that's about the gist of it." Skyler, struggling to keep a straight face, turned to face Elizabeth. "Basically Brain made a less than flattering comment about Dr. Carmichael, which I won't repeat because I really don't think he feels like getting hit for a second time in less than an hour, but suffice it to say, said comment was repeated to Sarah Walker who then repeated it to Jenny and well here we are."

"Right, well I'll go deal with Carmichael, can I trust you to deal with your team?" Elizabeth wasn't an idiot she had no doubt that whoever repeated what Brain had said was a member of her nephew's team.

"Got it covered." Skyler nodded, a devilish smirk forming as he thought about what was coming. He already had a pretty good idea who it was that had sold Brain out. "What're you going to with Jenny?"

She let out a sigh, rubbing the back of her neck, "Before I do anything I'm going to go talk to her. After that I'm not sure yet. I'll let her cool her heels in the brig for tonight then probably have her attend some anger management sessions with Dr. Heightmeyer."

"I'm sure Jenny'll love that." He let out a soft laugh as he went to find out if Brain would survive and Elizabeth left to go deal with Jenny.

--

The next morning Skyler gathered his team in the locker room. Brain sat on the bench looking miserable, no doubt his head was killing him – he'd ended up with a mild concussion and six stitches in the side of his head. Blue looked miffed – Skyler had bodily dragged him out of the one of the medical research labs for this little team meeting. To those who didn't know him Axle looked bored, but Skyler could see that he was in fact slightly nervous.

"As you all know we have one master rule about the locker room." Skyler started. "What's said in this room stays in this room. Now Brain here took a food tray to the side of the head last night because somebody," He eyed Axle. "Broke that rule. Someone repeated something that was said in the locker room to Sarah Walker who then repeated it to Jenny Carmichael."

Skyler stopped talking to stare Axle straight in the eye. Axle and Sarah had had an on again off again, non exclusive relationship going since Antarctica.

"Ok! It was me, alright." Axle cracked.

"You didn't!" Blue looked at Axle in disbelief.

"It was supposed to be in confidence! I didn't think she would say anything to anyone, certainly not to Jenny."

Skyler turned to Brain. "It's your call, Brain."

"Oh I want it." Brain nodded then winced as the pounding in his head increased.

"What? No, c'mon it was one slip of the tongue!"

"Sorry man rules are rules." Skyler shrugged apologetically, patting his friend on the shoulder. "Mess hall, common areas, and for the grand finale the Gate room."

"Damn it." He hung his head dejectedly as he stood up and started stripping.

Standing in the buff Axle sighed then bolted out of the room wanting to get his humiliation over and done with. Following after him it took everything the other three members of the team had to keep from bursting out laughing. By the time they made it through the mess hall, the common areas and were passing through the gate room the guys couldn't keep the laughter in any longer.

Laughing so hard both Brain and Blue collapsed to their knees gasping for air. Skyler was bent over holding his side. Hearing the commotion going on in the gate room Elizabeth left her office to investigate only to get a sight full of a very nude Axle – an image she could have lived without _ever_ having seen. Catching sight of Skyler by the stairs bent over laughing she started in his direction to see what was going on.

"I hate you bastards! I hate you all!" Axle yelled as he bolted past his teammates, diving into the nearest transporter.

"I'm probably going to regret asking this, but what was that all about?" Elizabeth stopped next to Skyler her arms folded.

"Just dealing with my team like you asked." Skyler managed to choke out after a moment. "Coop broke the master rule of the locker room, that was his punishment."

"The master rule?"

"Yeah. What's said in the locker room stays in the locker room. We have that rule for good reasons as was evidenced after last nights little incident."

"You are such a child." Elizabeth stated. Deciding it wasn't worth the headache at the moment Elizabeth left Skyler and his teammates to return to her office.

--

Later that night Skyler made his way through the control room to Elizabeth's office looking for her. She was supposed to have met him an hour ago for dinner, but hadn't shown up. Not that he was all that surprised Elizabeth had a habit of either getting caught up in her work or being cornered by the scientists.

"I'm serious John, give it to me." Skyler paused in the doorway at hearing Elizabeth's annoyed tone of voice.

"No." Sheppard folded his arms stubbornly, a playful smirk on his face.

"I swear John if you don't give me back my PDA right now, I'll –."

"You'll what? He practically taunted Elizabeth, his smirk never fading.

"Damn it John…" Fed up with asking for her PDA back Elizabeth tried to physically take it back from John.

Hopping back John held the PDA out of reach with one arm while using the other to grab Elizabeth around the waist. "Now, now Elizabeth is that any way for diplomat to act?"

Elizabeth didn't answer right away, busy struggling to get free of John's hold. "If you don't let me go, give me back my PDA, and let me get back to work I'll ground you. Meaning no off world missions and no flying the Puddle Jumpers." She smiled at seeing the look of horror that appeared on John's face.

"You wouldn't?" His smirk faltered.

"Wanna try me?"

"Damn you play dirty." John, tossing the PDA onto her desk, loosened his grip on her waist but didn't pull his arm away.

"You think that was dirty you should've seen her when we were kids." Skyler decided to make his presence known.

Almost instantly John pulled away from Elizabeth. If Skyler didn't know any better he'd have sworn his CO looked like he'd just been caught doing something wrong by his girlfriend's father. Shaking his head he had to smile at the deer in the headlights look on Sheppard's face and the blush that was creeping up Elizabeth's face.

"And you call me a child." Skyler tossed over his shoulder as he turned to leave the office. There was definitely some teasing potential from what he'd just seen and judging by the identical looks that filtered over the two's faces they knew it.


	6. Chapter 6

"Major Cain!"

Skyler paused with a muttered damn under his breath as he heard McKay's voice. A new lab had been discovered near the infirmary a few days ago and the scientist had been hounding everyone with the ATA gene to activate the technology in the room. Unfortunately most of the people with the gene either couldn't get anything of significance to activate or were currently off world.

Up until now Skyler had been doing a good job of avoiding McKay. It wasn't that he didn't want to help, for the most part he had no problem helping the scientists, but sometimes McKay could forget that he was an actual person, not a lab rat.

"McKay." He turned to face the scientist.

"C'mon I need you to try and initialize some equipment in the new med lab." Not waiting for an answer he started to drag Skyler in the opposite direction.

"Hold on McKay," He tried to stop their forward motion. "What do you need me for? You have the gene you activate the stuff. I have other things to do than play lab rat for you."

"I need to analyze the feedback data and I can't do that if I have to concentrate on keeping something activated." He continued moving.

"You can't get anything to activate, can you?" It was more a statement than a question.

That got McKay to stop. He opened his mouth to retort but snapped it shut, "Yes, yes alright. Now if you're finished…" He started moving again, dragging Skyler with him.

--

"How's it going?" Elizabeth question as she entered the lab stopping next to Carson.

"They're making progress…I think." Carson turned away from the two arguing men at the other end of the room to look at Elizabeth.

"You think?"

"Aye with Major Cain's help Rodney has been able to activate some of the bigger items, but its taken them twice as long because they can't seem to stop arguing –." He cut off as a loud curse came from the other side of the room.

"Damn it, Major!" Rodney pulled out from the consol he'd been under, shaking his hand. "I told you not to touch anything until I was done."

"I didn't touch anything!" Skyler shot back. "It probably reacted to your gene." He crouched down to look inside the panel McKay was working in.

Muttering under his breath Rodney went back to working on the panel. Without warning there was a small explosion of sparks, which cased a small fire inside the panel. Rodney swore as he quickly pulled back from the panel.

Seeing the flames the sparks had caused Skyler scrambled back across the floor until his back slammed into the wall. His eyes never leaving the small fire he sat there, his mind screaming at him to run, but his body paralyzed by fear. His heart felt like it was about to burst out of his chest and he suddenly couldn't seem to get enough air into his lungs.

After what felt like an eternity, but couldn't have been more than a minute or two someone put the fire out with the extinguisher. As soon as the fire was out Skyler felt the paralyzing fear that had been slowly squeezing his insides and holding his body hostage loosen its hold. Instantly he bolted from his position on the floor and out the door.

Finding his way to a nearby balcony he tightly gripped the railing as he tried to regain his balance. His heart was hammering in his chest and he was panting and gasping for air like he'd just run ten miles up hill...a _very_ steep hill. Closing his eyes he fought to shove down the memories that threatened to overwhelm him.

--

Watching as Skyler bolted from the room Rodney frowned in annoyance - now who was he supposed to get to activate the new scanner? John was laid up in the infirmary and there was no way Carson would do it without a whole lot of bitching and nobody else with the gene could get it to activate.

Carson, also watching the major bolt from the room, hadn't missed the man having what appeared to be a panic attack moments before. About to go after him, Carson stopped when he felt Elizabeth gently but firmly grab his arm.

"Give him a minute." Was all she said as she stared after her nephew's retreating form.

Seeing the looked that passed through Elizabeth's eyes Carson nodded slightly, taking a step back from the door. His instincts were yelling at him to go after the major and make sure he was ok, but something about the look on Elizabeth's face made him stop.

"You know what that was all about?" Ignoring Rodney's mutterings about crazy flyboys, Carson gently pulled Elizabeth aside.

"It was the fire." She answered, folding her arms around herself. "Skyler has, I guess you could say a phobia of fire, no matter how big or small. Usually if the fires not too large or doesn't catch him off guard like that one just did, he can control his reaction to a certain degree."

"Aye, can I assume this phobia of his has something to do with that burn scar that runs diagonally across his back?" Carson had asked Skyler about the scar before - all his medical file said was it happened in a fire when he was ten - but had never gotten an actual answer out of the soldier.

"Yeah it does." Elizabeth knew Skyler didn't want his fear and the story behind it to be known by others, but she trusted Carson to invoke doctor/patient confidentiality, not that he was the kind of person to spread it around anyway. "As I'm sure you know from his file that Skyler was involved in a fire when he was ten," Carson nodded his head. "It was bad. He along with his mom had been attending a small dinner party when it happened and out of the dozen or so people that had been in the building when it went up, only three survived."

"His mom - my sister - died in that fire, that's the summer he came to live with me and my parents, it was tough for him loosing his mom only a little over a year after his dad was killed in action. He got the burn on his back when a wooden support beam fell on him pinning him to the ground for several minutes before someone was able to lift it off of him and carry him out of the building." She paused a moment giving a soft humorless laugh. "They later found out that the whole fire had been started by a small candle that had been left burning to close to some curtains. To this day Skyler won't go within five feet of a lit candle, if he can avoid it."

--

"You ok?"

Hearing Elizabeth's voice Skyler straightened up, "I'm fine. Just needed a breather." He turned to face Elizabeth.

"A breather, right." Elizabeth nodded. She knew that he was lying through his teeth, but she was willing to let it slide for the moment.

"Yeah you know how it can be working with McKay sometimes." He started for the door. "I should go, I need to take care of some things before my team heads off world this afternoon."

Elizabeth softly griped his arm, "I'm here if you need to talk."

"I know."

--

Feeling smothered by the nighttime heat Skyler tossed and turned on the small cot the Kenshi had given him to sleep on. The Kenshi had a plant that had the medical department bouncing off the walls with excitement and were willing to trade in exchange for better agricultural techniques. Much to his and his teams annoyance the Kenshi were experiencing very hot and dry weather recently, which made it nearly impossible to sleep.

Rolling over he caught sight of something orange and flickering out the window. Half asleep he didn't pay much mind to it at first until the sounds of shouting filled his mind and the hint of what smelt like smoke filtered through his nose. Bolting up right he quickly got out of bed, slipped his boots on then stepped out the door.

He stood frozen for a moment as he took in the sight of a large section of the village going up in flames. There were people scattered around running everywhere, some were pouring buckets full of water onto the burning houses while others were just running around in panic. The smoke in the air was starting to get thicker making it harder to breath.

In the back of his mind Skyler registered the other members of his team exiting their own rooms moving into the chaos to try and help where they could. He knew he needed to move, needed to help, but his feet wouldn't move. He was frozen to the spot watching the nightmare play out in front of him. Image after image washed through his mind taking him back to another fire.

"Major!" Brain's voice pulled Skyler out of his thoughts.

Snapping into command mode he started to issue orders, "Brain get back to the gate call for help. Blue see what you can do to help the wounded. Coop let's see if we can't get these people organized and get these fires put out." Without question the four men broke off going to do their jobs.

"Help, help!" A hysterical woman came running up to Skyler. "You have to help me please. I can't find him, he's still inside!" She pointed to one of the burning houses.

"Easy, calm down." Skyler steadied the woman. "Who can't you find, who's still inside?"

"My son. Please you have to help, I can't lose him he's all I have left."

"What's his name and where would he have been?"

"Goren. He would have been in his room, upstairs towards the back of the house." The woman was sobbing by then.

Shoving down every instinct that was yelling at him to turn and run Skyler ran towards the house the woman had indicated. He entered the house into a hallway that stretched toward the back of the house in one direction and up a flight of stairs in the other direction. He ran up the stairs to the second floor and through a doorway into another hallway.

The hallway was filled with smoke and there were flames licking their way up the walls and across the ceiling. Skyler moved through the flaming hallway, checking every door on his way, coughing harder as smoke filled his lungs. When he opened the bathroom door and hollered for the boy, he heard a cry in return.

He found the terrified child huddled down in the Kenshi version of a bathtub. "Goren?" The kid nodded and whimpered. "C'mon it's time to get out of here. You mother's waiting for you."

Helping the kid out of the bathtub Skyler paused when the kid had a coughing fit. Suddenly remembering something his dad had taught him, he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket. Moving over to the sink – never happier that these people had developed enough to have indoor plumbing – he soaked the handkerchief then tied it around the little boys mouth making him look like a bandit from one of those old western movies his grandpa had always loved to watch.

Coughing hard, Skyler hesitated before opening the door. Stepping back into the hallway he ushered the little boy towards the stairs. Halfway to the stairs, part of the ceiling collapsed on top of them.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Aside from the basic no duh stuff, I have no medical knowledge what so ever so don't be surprised if anything is incorrect. Just think of it as me using my creative license and that in my own little world it all makes sense and is plausible.

--

In Carson's office Elizabeth paced back and forth like a caged animal waitingfor word on Skyler. It had been a little over an hour since Dr. Jamsen had dialed Atlantis requesting back up to put out a fire that had started in the Kenshi village. They weren't sure what exactly had started the fire but the theory they were going with at the moment was that the hot, dry weather had led to a series of heat-lightning strikes.

Skyler had been brought through the gate about half an hour ago after the burning building he'd gone into to rescue a small boy had collapsed on him. It still stunned her that he'd willingly gone _into_ a burning building. She was thankful that the little boy and his mother were both fine, but she just couldn't figure out what had made Skyler run into that building.

Finally seeing Skyler wheeled in on a gurney Elizabeth headed for the door only to be met there by Carson. "Let's talk in here, while the nurses get the major settled."

"How is he?" Elizabeth sat down in one of the visitor's chairs.

"He's stable for the moment. He has a few minor burns and a moderate to severe case of smoke inhalation, we've begun treatment for those and he should be fine in a couple of days. He also has a sever concussion, which we'll have to keep an eye on." He moved to perch on the edge of his desk. "Preliminary test show that there is some swelling, but until I get all the tests back and he wakes up I won't know the full extent of damage."

"Damage? You mean brain damage?"

"I won't lie to you Elizabeth that is a possibility. Depending on the damage – if any – he could have anything from loss of memory to the loss of the ability to speak or understand language." Seeing the worried look on Elizabeth's face he was quick to reassure her, "But like I said I won't know anything until the swelling goes down and he wakes up. Let's not jump to the worse case scenario,"

"Can I sit with him?"

"Aye, you can for a minute." He led her out of the office over to Skyler's bed.

--

The room was quiet, except for the sound of Skyler's coarse breathing and his occasional reflexive coughing. A nurse came in every half hour to check on him, but other than that, no one disturbed the quiet. Carson had left instructions to be paged if Skyler started to wake up but so far her nephew had given them no signs of waking.

"Should you still be here, it's after midnight?" John questioned as stepped up behind the chair Elizabeth was sitting in.

"Probably not." She never took her eyes off Skyler.

"He's gonna to be ok." He gently laid a hand on her shoulder giving it a comforting squeeze.

Gripping the hand on her shoulder Elizabeth took her gaze off of Skyler to look at John. "I know…I just hate seeing him like this."

"You should get some sleep."

"In a little bit." John nodded, turning to leave.

"John…" He turned back to look at her. "Thanks."

"Anytime. I'm here for you always." With that he left the room.

--

Elizabeth dozed in the chair beside the bed. Something woke her, but she wasn't sure just what it was. The room was still dark, but she could see the sun just starting to rise outside the window. She looked around, her eyes coming to rest on Skyler. She smiled when she saw him blinking sluggishly.

"Sky?" She moved to stand over him, gently grasping his hand. She grinned when she felt a small pressure on her hand.

Skyler tried to turn towards the gentle voice, only succeeding in the slightest of movements. "Li'b'th?" he slurred, trying to respond.

"How do you feel?" She helped him take a sip of water from the cup that had been on the bedside table.

"Head hurts." Skyler struggled to stay awake, his eyelids growing heavy once again.

"I'll go find someone to give you something for that." She squeezed his hand before going in search of a nurse.

Elizabeth returned shortly with a nurse, who turned on the lights and listened to his chest. Deep breaths triggered a deep cough, but his lungs were clearing.

"Dr. Beckett should be here shortly." The nurse informed them.

A few minutes later a bed haggled Carson entered the infirmary. He immediately started checking his patient over.

Pulling his penlight out he directed, "Skyler, I want you to follow the light with your eyes." Satisfied that his eyes were focused and tracking, Carson slipped the light back into her pocket.

When he looked at Skyler again, his eyes were closed. "Skyler?"

Skyler sluggishly opened his eyes again, "Tired" He slurred out.

"I know you are, but I need you to answer some questions for me first. Then you can go back to sleep." At Skyler's nodded he continued, "Can you tell me where you are?"

"Infirmary." He could feel his eyes slipping closed again.

"Good. Any pain or nausea, anything abnormal?"

"Head, no, and no."

"Kay you can go ahead and go back to sleep. I'll see you in a bit," Carson turned to the nurse, "Give him a shot of pain meds and keep monitoring his vitals. I'd like to get another MRI to see how the swelling is coming along so alert me the minute he's awake again."

The nurse nodded making notations into Skyler's chart. Satisfied that Skyler was indeed on the mend, Carson turned his attention to Elizabeth. "So far everything looks ok."

Elizabeth let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "So he's going to be ok?"

"There are still some tests I'll need to run when he's more awake, but I'm hopeful." He started leading her out of the infirmary. "Now I want you to go get so sleep in a real bed. I know you've been here all night even though I told you, you could only sit with him for a minute." Elizabeth knew better than to argue and allowed him to lead her out of the infirmary.

--

"Well Major so far you're batting four for four." Carson spoke as he sat on a stool next to Skyler's bed later that afternoon going over some test results. "You're awake, you can speak, you can walk, and your memory appears intact, with the exception of the fire itself. But that's common with head injuries." He set a pad of paper along with a pencil, on the rolling table in front of Skyler. "Just a few more things and you'll be done for today."

"Why am I not surprised?" Skyler let out a frustrated sigh as he reached out to fiddle with the pencil.

"Look Skyler I know you're tired of all this, but these tests really need to be done."

"To rule out brain damage, yeah, yeah I know."

"Just bare with me a little longer." Carson picked up Skyler's water cup from the bedside table, "Can you tell me what this is?"

Skyler looked at Carson like he was crazy, "You're joking right?"

"I need to measure your ability to recognize and correctly identify objects," Carson answered, shaking the cup.

He sighed again, "Cup, white." He'd done these kinds of tests before; this wasn't the first concussion he'd had. He pointed at the table, "Table, brown," he tapped the pencil, "Pencil, yellow-ish-y color," He indicated the pad of paper, "Paper, white."

Carson smiled. "That's very good Major. You seem to be able to identify objects on sight," Carson indicated the pad of paper. "Next I want you to write your name."

When Skyler was finished he sat staring at the paper in front of him with a strange expression on his face. Carson glanced at the paper as well, but didn't say anything instead handed the still man a book next.

"Pick a page and read something out loud," he instructed.

Opening the book Skyler stared at the page, "Ha, ha, very funny. Now give me something in English." Seeing the serious look on the other man's face Skyler, closing his eyes, dropped his head back on his pillow closing the book. "Shit."

"I'll let you get some rest," Carson said, patting his arm, he could see that Skyler wanted to be left alone at the moment. He gathered up the items from the tabletop and walked away. As he walked away, Carson glanced down at the notepad. Sharp black lines stretched across the page, occasionally overlapping. It could have been the scribbling of a two year old.

--

"Carson, come in." Elizabeth looked up from the report in front of her at the sound of a knock on her office doorway. "How's Skyler?" She didn't like the grim look on Carson's face.

"He's doing ok. His speech is unaffected, he is able to walk, and he is able to remember everything with the exception of the fire itself…which is not unusual with a head injury," he quickly added. "Skyler is able to identify objects on sight as well as colors."

"But…?" Things sounded good so far so of course there had to be a but.

"He's demonstrating diminished cognitive processes."

"Meaning?" Elizabeth just wanted straight answers.

"At the moment he is unable to read or write. When I tested him he was unable to identify written words and when I asked him to write his name this," He handed Elizabeth a sheet of paper. "Is what he wrote."

Elizabeth sighed rubbing her temple, she studied the erratic lines, none of which even vaguely resembled Skyler's name. "Will he recover?"

"Possibly. He could recover or relearn the lost skills. Or, he may never recover these skills."

"Thank you Carson, keep me updated." He nodded his head. "And let him know I'll be by to see him later."

"Of course."

As soon as Carson left Elizabeth rubbed her irritated eyes, lowering her head. This was going to be devastating for Skyler if it was permanent, it would mean no more off world missions and no more flying – except for maybe the puddle jumpers since those were flown pretty much by thought.

--

Laying in bed Skyler stared at the ceiling, trying no to think. It had been three days since he'd woken up and it seemed like all he did was think, think about his career, his future, about what was going to happen next. If his condition didn't change there was no way he'd be allowed back to active duty and that scared Skyler, it scared him to think about not being able to do his job, to do what he loved.

"Cain?" John stepped around the privacy curtain.

"Sir," Skyler sat up at seeing his CO. He'd had visitors – mostly his team and Elizabeth – coming in and out all the time in the last three days but this was the first time Sheppard had been to see him – that he was conscious for anyway.

"Just thought I'd come see how you were doing." Spotting a chair he pulled it next to the bed and sat down.

Skyler closed his eyes and thought about the question. How was he? That was a good question. He was alive. He was breathing. He could think. He could walk. He could talk. Guess he should count his blessings.

"Hey, I'm alive. What more can I ask for?" He shrugged his shoulders. The two fell silent for a moment.

"So what happens now?" Skyler questioned after a moment. "I mean there's no way I'm gonna be cleared for active duty and I really don't feel like spending the rest of my life being a lab rat for the beakers."

"You sound like you think this is permanent."

"Even if it isn't, how long do you think it'll take me to relearn how to read and write?"

"I don't care how long it takes, you'll get better and I'll make that a direct order if I have to."

Skyler couldn't help the soft laugh that escaped, "That would be a first. I don't think I've ever heard you give a direct order."

"If that's what it takes." He shrugged getting up from his seat. "Now get some sleep, it's late and the last thing either of us needs is a ticked off Scotsman breathing down our necks.

"Yes, sir." He watched as John headed for the door. "Hey Sheppard…"

"Yeah?" John stopped at the door.

"Thanks…not just for this but for looking after her too."

John didn't need to ask who her was. He nodded his head then left the infirmary.

--

Unable to sleep Skyler turned onto his side and let his eyes roam around the room. The duty nurse was in her usual spot, tucked against the far wall at her desk, other than that the room was empty. The last of the Kenshi wounded had been released earlier that day leaving him the only patient in the infirmary.

Looking away from the duty nurse his eyes came to focus on a book someone – probably Elizabeth, she'd always been a bookworm – had left on the bedside table. Picking it up he opened it to stare at the writing inside. No matter how much he willed it the jumbled mess of words refused to resolve into anything recognizable to him.

Books, reading, writing. Things Skyler was going to have to learn how to learn to live without. His whole life he'd never been much of a reader, always preferring to go out and live his adventures instead of just reading about them, but now that he couldn't read he found that he missed it. Frustrated he slammed the book shut tossing it back onto the table.

"Not giving up are you?"

Skyler's head snapped up at the female voice to his right. "Wha?"

"Sorry didn't mean to startle you." Aria moved to sit in the chair next to the bed. "I hope you don't mind some company," she questioned as she sat.

"I don't think I'm the best company right now."

"I can leave if you want…" She stood up ready to leave Skyler alone.

He grabbed her hand stopping her, "No don't go. That's not what I meant. Stay please, I don't think I want to be alone right now." He pulled her closer, shifting over so that she could join him on the bed.

Aria offered him a smile and settled on the bed beside him. Rather than talk, she turned and wrapped her arm around his waist and settled her head on his shoulder. She knew that what she was doing wasn't exactly professional, but at the moment professionalism could take a hike, she was off duty and there as a friend.

"Sleep," she whispered.

--

Aria was gone by the time Skyler woke up the next morning. Whether it was the loss of the body warmth next to him or the pressure of a blood pressure cuff inflating on his arm that woke him, he was unsure. Blearily, he squinted up at the body hovering over him.

"This sure as hell better not be a dream." Skyler mumbled as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "Cause you'd be the ugliest nurse I've ever dreamt."

"Ha, ha, morning to you too." Blue unwrapped the cuff and circled his fingers around Skyler's wrist.

"What time is it?"

"Little after eight." Blue glanced at his watch. "Duty nurse went to get breakfast, while I offered to take your vitals for her."

"Wondered why you were playing nurse." Skyler sat up as said duty nurse appeared with a tray of food. Shortly after breakfast Carson came over to speak with Skyler.

"Good news Major." Carson smiled as he pulled up a stool to sit on. "I've been going over your latest scans and things look good. There's still some swelling in you brain, but right now that could be a good thing."

"Uh, ok I'm no doctor or anything but how is that a good thing?" Skyler raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Because there's a very good chance that it's the swelling that's causing your loss of cognitive abilities and not any permanent damage to the brain itself. Hopefully as the swelling goes down you'll regain your abilities to read and write."

--

Much to Skyler's relief Carson had been right about the swelling being the cause of his lost cognitive abilities. Due to the sever nature of his concussion the swelling had been slow to reduce, but as it did Skyler found himself slowly regaining his ability to read and write. It hadn't be easy, he'd been frustrated and angry a lot, snapping at people when he hadn't meant to.

But with help from Elizabeth and his friends he'd made progress. He still had trouble sometimes, but with his friends – his family – by his side it was nothing he couldn't get through. It had been a long hard road but after the longest month of his life Skyler had been cleared for light duty. It would still be another few weeks or so before Carson would clear him for full duty but Skyler had no doubt that he would get there.


	8. Chapter 8

Exiting his bedroom wearing nothing but pajama bottoms Skyler had to smile at the sight of Aria, wearing nothing but one of his shirts, sitting on the counter of the small kitchen like area of his quarters drinking her morning cup of coffee and reading one of those women's magazines that had been smuggled through the gate by various women on the expedition – judging by the tattered cover it had been making the rounds.

Moving in her direction he gave her a quick kiss as he reached for the coffee pot – it had taken half his chocolate stash, but he'd managed to bribe the kitchen staff out of one of their extra coffee makers.

He sighed when he found the coffee pot empty, "Could've left me a few drops, you know."

"Sorry." Aria looked at the empty coffee pot then offered Skyler her cup.

"So what article ya reading?" He took a drink from the cup.

"Dear Abby."

"The advice column?" Skyler raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, it can be interesting. For example this woman's been seeing this guy – purely physical – for a few months and is now wondering if they could take a step back and try to have a go at a real friendship before things progress any further. Sound familiar?"

"You trying to tell me something? Cause its way too early in the morning to be doing subtle."

"I don't know what I'm trying to say, but think about it how much do we really know about each other?" Aria closed the magazine, setting it aside.

"I know you like your coffee black." He lifted the cup of coffee.

"That's a gimme, I'm usually still around in the morning."

"I know you like to sleep on the left side of the bed on your stomach. And that you have a little heart shaped birth mark on your lower back."

"I'm sensing a pattern here." She slid off the counter, kissing his cheek as she headed for the bedroom to get dressed.

"I know all the important stuff." He grasped her hand pulling her back so he could wrap his arms around her waist.

"Really? Where'd I grow up?"

"Earth." Skyler smirked stealing a kiss.

"Smart ass." Aria pulled back, disappearing into the bedroom.

Following after her Skyler leaned in the doorway watching as she started to get dressed. "What's this all about anyway? Why bring this all up now?"

"What if I told you I wanted more?"

"Define more."

"I think we should take a step back and trying being friends. I mean really be friends and see where that takes us."

"I thought we skipped all that stuff and went straight to the good stuff for a reason." He paused at seeing the look on Aria's face. "What?"

"What's the good stuff?" Dressed, she moved past Skyler kissing him as she headed for the door. "I'll see you later, I have a meeting to get to."

"Yeah I should get going to, I'm supposed to be meeting Elizabeth." Shaking his head in confusion as Aria left Skyler went to get dressed him self.

--

Ten minutes later Skyler entered the gym where Elizabeth was already waiting for him. Deciding that she'd spent too long working at a desk Elizabeth had decided to start exercising and get into shape. She'd also 'volunteered' Skyler to be her personal trainer.

"You're late." Elizabeth looked up at her nephew from where she was stretching.

"Yeah sorry, I got distracted." Skyler dropped down next to her and started his own stretching.

"Distracted, right…" She raised a knowing eyebrow.

Skyler knew what she was thinking, "No, no it wasn't what you're thinking…" He paused, "Well okay yeah there was some of that, but…wait why am I talking about my love life with you?" Shaking his head he got up, giving Elizabeth a hand up as well.

Half an hour later Skyler was helping Elizabeth limp into the infirmary. He'd tried to tell her she wasn't ready for a five mile run yet, but being the stubborn woman she was Elizabeth hadn't listened. Elizabeth wasn't a kid any more, she couldn't push herself like she'd use to, especially after she'd hurt her knee her senior year of college.

"You know for being a former track star you have weak knees." Skyler joked as he helped her over toone of the beds.

"Shut up." Elizabeth glared at her nephew as Carson finished up the conversation he'd been having with Rodney to come see what the problem was. Rodney followed behind him.

"What seems to be the problem?" Carson stepped next to Skyler.

"She tried to take a trip down memory lane and over did it on her knee." Skyler smirked as he perched on the empty bed next to his aunt's. Elizabeth responded by throwing a pillow at him, which just caused him to laugh.

--

After a long day of baby sitting scientists Skyler was looking forward to a nice relaxing night with Aria doing absolutely nothing. It was Friday night, which meant movie night and he'd managed to get his hands on one of the Monty Python movies floating around after waiting forever.

"Hey Aria, you home?" He knocked on the door when he found it locked.

When she opened the door Skyler stood stunned for a moment. Aria was wearing a pair of jeans that hugged in all the right places and a long sleeve baby blue v-neck shirt that also hugged in all the right places. Her hair was also done up and she looked like she was in the process of putting on make-up.

"Pretty dressed up for a night in." Skyler stated as Aria moved to let him in.

A knock on the door cut off her reply, "Oh that's him, stall him for me will you?" She disappeared into the bathroom.

"Stall? Stall who?" Confused he opened the door to find Dr. Robert Campbell standing there. "Bob?"

"Major." Bob nodded in greeting.

"You lost?"

"No, I'm looking for…" He trailed when Aria came out of the bathroom. "Wow, you look great."

"Thank you." Aria smiled.

"Wait you're going on a date with Bob?" Skyler actually felt surprised at how the thought of Aria going on a date with someone else made him feel. "What about movie night?"

"Sorry guess you'll just have to find someone else to watch," She looked at the movie in Skyler's hand. "Monty Python with."

Confused Skyler watched as Aria took Bob's arm and allowed him to lead her out of the room.

--

Now more confused than ever Skyler shuffled into the mess hall looking to get some dinner. Spotting Elizabeth and Kate sitting at a table along with John he got an idea.

"Hey you two are women, both have a good insight into the woman psyche maybe you can help me out." He slid into the seat next to Sheppard across from Kate. "What's it mean when a woman says she wants to take a step back and be friends?"

"I assume you're talking about Aria." Kate questioned.

"No I'm talking about the Easter Bunny…of course I'm talking about Aria."

"Isn't this your guys' movie night?" Elizabeth spoke up amused by the desperate confusion on Skyler's face.

"Supposed to be, but she's out on a date with Bob." He dragged out the name.

"Bob…?" John looked up from his food.

"Number six." Skyler scowled in annoyance.

"Number six?" Elizabeth raised an eyebrow.

"Dr. Campbell. Have you noticed how many Bobs there are on this expedition?" Sheppard shrugged.

"Back to the point…" Skyler turned the conversation back to his current problem. "I can't figure it at. This morning out of the blue Aria starts talking about wanting to take a step back and be friends, which by the way I thought we already were. Then the next thing I know she's going on a date with Bob. I don't even know how that one happened."

"Well she is a good looking woman…" John started then caught Elizabeth's gaze. "…Person."

"Yeah but Bob? C'mon what does that say about me?"

"He is a good looking guy…" Elizabeth caught Sheppard's gaze. "…Person."

"Really?" Both Skyler and John asked.

"It's true." Kate agreed.

"But he's so…so…so…"

"Bob." John supplied.

"Yes, thank you."

"Why are you getting so worked up over this any way? It's not like the two of you are exclusive."

"That's not the point. The point is that Aria and Bob have nothing in common."

"Besides the obvious what do you and Aria have in common?" Kate challenged.

"You people are no help at all." Skyler dropped his head to the table.

--

The next morning after thinking about what Aria had said Skyler caught up with her outside the infirmary. He pulled her aside before she could enter. "You made your point."

"And what point would that be?" She let Skyler pull her aside.

"The one where you're afraid that we have nothing in common and want to find out if we do."

"Don't you want to find out? I mean what if one day we wake up and we don't recognize each other because we didn't take that one step back?"

"And I understand that…" He glanced at his watch. "Look I have a briefing I'm running late for can we talk about this tonight over dinner?"

"Can't I have plans with Bob." She didn't miss the scowl on Skyler's face. "What can I say he makes me laugh?"

"You don't have to go out with him to laugh. In fact he's funnier from a distance."

Aria watched as Skyler moved off towards the transporter. Things were getting confusing between her and Skyler they weren't dating exclusively, neither one of them had wanted that when they'd first started whatever it was that was going on between them, but lately Aria had started feeling like she wanted a deeper relationship with Skyler but wasn't sure what he wanted.

Yesterdaymorning it had sound like he was content with the way things were but then she'd gone on her date with Bob and now Skyler was wanting to talk about the relationship between her and himself. Not knowing what to make of things Aria entered the infirmary to start her shift.

--

He knew that it was late but there was no way Skyler was going to be able to get any sleep until things were sorted out between him and Aria. Finding the door unlocked he slipped into her quarters to find her sitting up in bed.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"Peace offering." Skyler held out the bar of chocolate he'd brought with him. She took the proffered chocolate, moving over to let Skyler lay on the bed with her. "So how do we do this?"

"From the beginnings always good."

"Right," he held his hand out. "Skyler Cain."

She took his hand, "Aria Chen."

"So where'd you grow up?" Skyler settled in for a night of conversation content with doing what he had to do to keep Aria in his life. He'd never felt about a girl the way he felt about Aria and he wanted to see where things went between them.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: I know I'm skipping a head a few episodes and you can blame my muse for that. It's being a stubbornly inpatient wanting to jump ahead in the story.

--

"Hey I've got an idea." Excitedly Skyler hopped up to sit on the edge of one of the infirmary beds as Aria worked to get medical supplies together for the evacuation. "I've been thinking about doing something we've never done before."

"All that thinking didn't hurt your head did it?" Aria looked up from her work.

"I'm serious, this is something we've never done, ever."

"Does this something have a name?"

"A date." He smiled impishly.

"A date? Skyler we've dated before." She raised an eyebrow.

"No, Aria we haven't. We've done everything but."

"Sky I think we're past the dating stage." She went back to her work.

"This is about the ritual." He slid off the bed, grabbing her shoulders forcing her to look at him. "You said you wanted to learn more about each other right?"

"Yeah…"

"Then we should start from square one; the mating ritual. You know that wonderful time where two people learn about each other. Learn things like favorite movie or favorite color –."

"Blue." She ducked out of his hold moving across the infirmary to gather more supplies.

"Not now, Aria." He followed after her. "The ritual…you and I have never had it."

"Okay maybe you're right."

"Of course I'm right." He smirked.

"Alright go ahead ask." She turned her full attention to Skyler.

"Okay well I was thinking that maybe after everything with this super storm and evacuation is over with you'd maybe sometime want to go out to dinner with me."

Aria pretended to think about it, before smirking. "I'll think about it." She kissed Skyler moving back to finish her work.

--

After the last of the people left the briefing room Skyler moved over to where Elizabeth stood gathering her data pad. "Are you insane? You should be going through the gate with the others not staying here."

Elizabeth let out a soft sigh she'd known from the moment she'd decided to stay and help with Rodney's plan that Skyler was going to be against it. "Skyler I've made my decision, end of story." She turned to walk away.

"No it's not." He grasped her arm forcing he to look at him. "Elizabeth you're the leader of this expedition, you can't afford to be putting yourself in harms way."

"Look I understand you're worried about what could happen, but I can't just sit back and let others put their lives at risk."

"Then I'm staying to watch your back."

"Skyler –."

"Elizabeth the whole reason I came on this expedition was to watch out for you, I've never hidden that fact from you or any one. I can't watch your back if I'm off on some other planet while you're here putting your life at risk. Family looks out for family."

"That works both ways, you know." Setting here data pad down Elizabeth griped Skyler's shoulders, looking him straight in the eyes. "Sending you to Manara is my way of looking out for you. You're always trying to keep me safe, let me keep you safe for once."

Not happy at all but knowing that Elizabeth had him on this one Skyler sighed, backing off. Seeing that she'd won this round Elizabeth squeezed his shoulders then let go and picked up her data pad turning to leave the room. Watching his aunt walk out of the briefing room Skyler got an uneasy feeling in his gut.

--

Too agitated to sleep Skyler walked through the camp that had been set up for the expedition members. It had been nearly five hours since Atlantis had been evacuated and so far they'd heard no word from Elizabeth and the others, it was starting to worry Skyler. He was about to make the short hike to the gate to dial the city and get an update when his radio sounded.

"_Major Cain this is Sheppard come in."_

"This is Cain, go ahead sir." Skyler didn't miss the tenseness in his CO's voice.

"_What's your situation, Major?"_

"Everything's quiet on our end sir. Aside from myself and the guards patrolling the perimeter everyone's sleeping."

"_Have you had any trouble with the locals?"_

"No, they've pretty much been ignoring us. Is everything all right sir?"

"It's been taken care of but I want you and a small group of men to return tonight to help with the clean up. Also bring a medic and Zelenka with you."

"Sir?"

"I'll explain when you get here."

"Yes sir, Cain out."

Worried about what was going on back in Atlantis Skyler quickly went about waking up the rest of his team and Zelenka. After informing Sgt. Bates about Sheppard's call and placing him in charge until morning Skyler led his team back to the gate.

--

Stepping through the gate Skyler came up short at seeing all the dead bodies littering the gate room floor. Looking up to the control room he felt his heart seize in fear at not seeing Elizabeth only Sheppard. Heart pounding he hurried to meet Sheppard as he started down the staircase.

"Elizabeth?"

"She's fine, looks like a drowned rat, but fine. Her and McKay are sleeping in the jumper bay." Sheppard was quick to reassure Skyler.

"What the hell happened?" Skyler demanded not caring at the moment that he was talking to his CO.

"Genii." Was Sheppard's simple answer. He turned to Blue, "Blue I need you in the jumper bay. Beckett took a good hit to the head and McKay's got a nasty gash on his arm."

Nodding his head Blue moved off to the jumper bay.

"Zelenka I need you to keep an eye on the shield." He spoke to the scientist next. After Radek started for the control room Sheppard turned his attention back to Skyler, Axle, and Brain. "The rest of us are on clean up duty. I want this gate room cleaned up before we start to bring back the others."

Nodding their agreement the four men got to work cleaning up.

--

Shaking, Elizabeth crawled under the covers of her bed and curled up into a ball. She couldn't understand why she couldn't stop shaking, the storm was over, the Genii were gone, and expedition members had returned to the city safely and yet she couldn't stop shaking.

She told herself she should feel thankful to be alive, but all she felt was vulnerable and frightened. Hundreds of what ifs ran through her mind; what if she'd gone with the rest of them like Skyler had wanted? What if Kolya hadn't bought the story? What if Sheppard had missed? What if they hadn't got the shield up in time?

When there was a knock on her door Elizabeth threw back the covers and practically leapt towards the door. Any human contact right now was more than welcome. She wasn't all that surprised to find Skyler standing in her doorway.

With things finally starting to calm down Skyler took the chance to check in on Elizabeth. Since coming back from Manara he'd only had enough time to briefly check in on her when she'd been sleeping in the back of one of the jumpers. Taking in the dark rings around her eyes, the rumpled hair, and the distant gaze Skyler could tell Elizabeth wasn't doing so hot at the moment.

"C'mon," he guided her back into the room and over to her bed. After tucking her back into bed he stretched out next to her.

Grabbing the laptop off her desk he accessed the city network and started one of the movies that had been uploaded onto the network – not every movie that had been brought through with them had been uploaded yet, but the majority of them where. He didn't pay attention to which movie he started, it was really just for background noise anyway.

"I could have died today or worse." Elizabeth whispered, shuddering she pulled the covers tighter around her. "If it hadn't been for John and Rodney…"

"You're fine, Sheppard's fine, McKay's fine. You guys did good today." Skyler draped an arm around her shoulders.

"If John hadn't shot Kolya he would have taken me through the gate with him…" She trailed off again as another shudder ran through here body at the thought of what could have happened to her if Kolya had taken her. "And Rodney he actually stepped in front of a gun for me. He was so scared he was shaking, but he never backed down he convinced Kolya to keep me alive."

That brought Skyler up short, not the fact that Rodney had stepped in front of a gun for Elizabeth but the fact that nobody had told him that Kolya had threatened to shoot Elizabeth. Sheppard have given him a basic run down of everything that had happened during the storm, but hadn't mentioned anything about Kolya threatening to shoot Elizabeth only that he'd used her as a human shield so that he could get through the gate.

"It's over, you're safe now." He gently kissed the top of her head, tightening his hold. "Go to sleep, the city will still be here tomorrow." He stayed with her until he was absolutely sure she was asleep then quietly left; he had a scientist to find.

--

Finding McKay in his lab Skyler wandered over to the desk the man was sitting at and dropped a handful of Snickers bars and power bars onto the desk in front of the scientist. Startled out of his thoughts Rodney jumped slightly looking down at the desk then up at Skyler in confusion.

"It's not much, but it's the least I could do after what you did for Elizabeth today."

"Wha?" Rodney hadn't slept in two days and was starting to feel under the weather – he'd told Kolya he was liable to catch a cold like that – so wasn't firing on all cylinders at the moment.

"You saved Elizabeth's life McKay, that says a lot about you in my book." Seeing that McKay looked like he was about to drop from exhaustion Skyler pulled the scientist out of his chair and steered him over to the cot in the back of the room. The older man was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

Noticing the bandage still wrapped around McKay's arm over the jacket Skyler grabbed the first aid kit from the wall then crouched next to him. McKay had refused to let Blue take a look at his arm earlier – it was no secret that McKay was picky about who he let practice 'voodoo' on him – instead bandaging it himself until Carson was well enough to look at it. Carefully he cut away the bandage and bloody sleeve underneath. Peeling away the bloody cloth and gauze he used an alcohol wipe to gently clean the gash.

"You moonlighting as a doctor now?" John spoke up from where he stood in the doorway of the lab watching his second-in-command bandage his scientist's arm.

"Nope, just doing my job." Skyler stated matter of factly as he closed the first aid kit and stood up to face the major. "McKay's family now and family looks out for family." He went to move past John then paused taking in the man's appearance. "That goes for you too sir, get some sleep you look like hell."

"Yes, sir." John smirked giving Skyler a mock salute as the younger man left the lab.

--

Shuffling down the corridors Skyler found his way to Aria's quarters. Leaning against the wall he knocked on her door hoping she was there and not some where else – he really didn't feel up to tracking her down at the moment.

"Hey," he greeted when she finally opened the door.

"Are you okay?" Aria ushered an exhausted looking Skyler into the room pushing him to sit on the small couch she had.

"Yeah, I've just had a rough night. God when I think about what could've happened…" He trailed off scrubbing a hand through his hair. "But that's not why I'm here," Skyler wrapped an arm around Aria. "I could really use that date right about now, you know something normal."

"I'd love to go out on a date with you." Aria kissed Skyler softly. "But not tonight, tonight you sleep."

"Mmm…" Skyler was already half asleep.

Snuggling into his hold Aria listened to Skyler's breathing even out as he succumbed to sleep's embrace. It wasn't long before she dozed off herself.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Hello anyone out there (taps on monitor), I'm getting worried by the sudden drop off in reviews. I'm not one of those people that will demand a certain number of reviews before I post the next chapter, but the more reviews I get the more likely I am to post sooner.

The lack of reviews is making me not want to write (I will finish this story – I hate leaving stories unfinished – but at this rate it'll take me longer than planed) so come on people please throw me a bone, anything even if it's to tell me what you don't like about the story (constructively though please).

--

Looking at his watch Skyler sighed impatiently, his team was supposed to have gone off world five minutes ago but there was some kind of hold up in the control room. Dropping his pack on the ground and handing his P-90 over to Axle, Skyler jogged up the staircase to the control room to see what was going on.

Spotting Elizabeth speaking with Grodin and the tech sitting at the DHD he made his way over. "What's the hold up?"

"I'm afraid your mission's being put on hold." Elizabeth answered. "We've run into a medical situation and have begun to institute a level four quarantine. All gate activity is suspended for the time being."

"Right," Skyler nodded, unzipping his vest.

While Skyler went to inform his team what was going and to stand down Elizabeth activated the citywide comm. system.

"May I have everyone's attention please? We have run into a questionable medical situation and at Doctor Beckett's suggestion we have decided to put the city into a self-regulated quarantine. For at least the next couple of hours, I need everyone to stay where they are, and report anyone moving freely through the halls. I hope you'll understand. Thank you."

After getting his team situated and checking with the soldiers on duty in the gate room Skyler returned to the control room to hear Sheppard arguing with Elizabeth over the radio.

"_I'm ranking military officer here."_ Sheppard countered whatever Elizabeth had just said.

"Yes, I'm aware of that, Major. You were off radio and we had to act quickly. Now, this is all protocol that was put into place long before this expedition began. Sgt. Bates and Major Cain are both here with me and we agreed this was the best plan of action." Skyler could practically hear the silent exasperation in Elizabeth's voice.

"Alright, alright. Teyla and I are coming up to join you."

"We're in a self-regulated quarantine, Major. Everyone stays where they are."

"We're nearly a mile away on the east pier. D'you really think I'm in any sort of danger walking from here to the Control Room?"

"At this point we don't know where they contracted the virus. This is a medical situation, John. Only authorized personnel in hazmat suits are allowed to roam freely. Those rules apply to everyone, including you."

"_Well, then, get someone to bring me a hazmat suit."_

Elizabeth was starting to get angry. "Everyone in hazmat is busy configuring the lab to deal with a possible outbreak. Now _if_ an opportunity arises, I will send somebody to come get you, but in the meantime, radio contact will have to do."

"_All right. Just ... keep us in the loop."_ Sheppard was frustrated.

"Will do." Elizabeth closed the com-line letting out a sigh. She didn't have long before Rodney contacted her about an Ancient viral lab.

--

An hour later Skyler watched the screen showing Peterson's life sign moving closer to the control room as Sheppard and Elizabeth again argued over the radio. If the situation had been different he probably would have made a smart-ass comment about them arguing like an old married couple.

"We don't yet know the nature of the virus we're dealing with. This is still a _medical_ situation." Elizabeth had just about had enough of John's attitude.

"_We don't have time for this. I'm heading out."_ John was done arguing, it was time to take action.

"Grodin, seal the gym." She'd just reached he breaking point. Peter quickly did as ordered, pushing several buttons on his consol.

"_What the hell is this?"_ John was quickly moving past frustrated to pissed.

"You said so yourself – you are the ranking military officer. I can't chance you getting infected."

To Skyler it almost sound like Elizabeth was getting more personal than professional with that last statement. He wasn't blind he could see the beginnings of something deeper stirring between Sheppard and Elizabeth. He still hadn't quite made up his mind on how he felt about that possibility.

"_I can't chance _you_ getting infected."_ There was no denying the personal meaning behind that statement. _"Bates?"_

"Yes, sir." Bates replied, silently curious that Sheppard was speaking to him when Cain was the ranking officer present.

"_Unlock the gym."_ John normally would have given the order to Cain but knowing about the major's relationship to Elizabeth couldn't take the chance that the younger man would side with his aunt and not let him out of the gym.

"Yes, sir." Bates moved towards Grodin's consol.

"Stand down, Bates." Elizabeth ordered in a stern tone that stopped Bates in his tracks. "You are not in command here, Major."

"Well, we'll agree to disagree. Bates, open the door."

Bates looked at Elizabeth for a moment then stepped forward again.

"Don't" Elizabeth stood firm, not backing down. Bates stopped again.

"Elizabeth, he's heading right for you."

"So we'll stop him. We'll talk him down, we'll block his way, we'll..."

"_Sergeant Bates, I am ordering you to open up the doors between the gym and the med lab right now." _John was refusing to back down as well.

Skyler having kept his mouth shut up to this point waiting to see how the power struggle resolved between Elizabeth and Sheppard watched Bates and Elizabeth stare each other down. Bates' expression was resolute, while Elizabeth tried to look firm – to Skyler tough it was clear that she was afraid that Bates was going to disobey her in favor of his commanding officer.

While he understood Sheppard's unspoken reason for giving Bates the order to open the gym instead of himself, Skyler didn't think it was fair of Sheppard to put the sergeant in the position he just had. Ending the stale mate he reached over and hit the control to open the gym door himself.

"We're heading out."

Half listening to Sheppard, Skyler looked Elizabeth straight in the eyes. It took everything he had to not look away when he saw the hurt and betrayal that flashed through her eyes. "Peterson has to be stopped."

He didn't do what he'd just done to try and undermined or hurt her, but Sheppard did have a point about Peterson needing to be stopped. He also had to agree with Sheppard about not wanting to risk Elizabeth getting infected – though his reasons were slightly different.

--

Watching as John made his escape out of her office behind Carson and Rodney, Elizabeth closed her eyes pinching the bridge of her nose. Of all the dangerous, irresponsible, insubordinate things that arrogant, stubborn, cocky man had done.

And Skyler, she didn't even want to think about what she was feeling about what he'd done – though she did have to wander if she'd feel like she did if it had been Bates and not Skyler who had opened the gym doors. Both men had undermined her authority and that had hurt and wounded her deeply.

Feeling smothered Elizabeth left her office, crossing the control room to the balcony. Leaning against the railing she soaked in the warm sensation of the sun and the gentle ocean breeze.

"You shouldn't be so hard on Sheppard. He was just trying to do his job the best way that he could."

Startled Elizabeth turned finding Skyler standing by the balcony doors, his hands shoved into his pockets. Shooting him a piercing glare she silently turned back to the ocean view.

"What, are you giving me the silent treatment now? Is this going to be like when I joined the Air Force and you're gonna refuse to talk to me for the next year?" Skyler took a step closer, but didn't move to stand next to her like he normally would have.

"I'm sorry if you feel like I hurt you and undermined your authority today, but I won't apologize for what I did. Yes I agree it was wrong of both me and Sheppard to do it in public the way we did, but it _was_ the right thing to do, Peterson had to be stopped."

"I understand that and I agree, but what happened today can never happen again." Elizabeth turned to face her nephew again, arms folded.

"Look Elizabeth I can't promise you it won't happen again…I won't promise you that. If Sheppard hadn't broken quarantine then there's a very good chance that Peterson would have made it to the control room and infected everyone there including _you_ and I couldn't let that happen. You're the only real family have left and I'll be damned if I'm going to let anything happen to you if I can prevent it."

"I get that, I do. But Skyler you need to learn when to put your personal feelings aside and think about the good of the whole. I know that's hard for you sometimes, you're driven by emotions and instinct, so am I on occasion and that isn't necessarily a bad thing _sometimes_." She moved to walk past Skyler, pausing to rest a hand on his arm. "But we can't always afford that, sometimes we have to look at the bigger picture."

"So where do we go from here?" He ducked his head before looking out at the ocean view.

"I don't know." She answered honestly moving away from him back into the control room.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews and sorry if I made anyone feel guilty about not reviewing I've been having a pretty crappy week. Add feeling bummed about the sudden drop in reviews on top of a crappy week and you get the A/N I wrote in the last chapter.

--

Entering the control room planning to help Grodin out by activating some new consoles Skyler glanced towards Elizabeth's office to see if she was there. Seeing the silent question in Skyler's eyes Grodin indicated the balcony door. Nodding Skyler plopped down in the seat next to Grodin so the man could explain what he needed him to do.

Normally Skyler would have gone out there to say hi before getting to work but ever since the nanite virus outbreak two weeks ago things had been kind of tense between them. They didn't hang out together as much as they'd use to, there hadn't been any late night talks about everything and nothing, no meals shared together, no movie nights, things had changed between them.

Though if he was honest with himself most of those things had gradually been happening long before the nanite virus. Skyler had started to do those things with Aria more and more as time had gone by and Elizabeth had been doing them with Sheppard. Of course after the nanite out break and then everything that had happened with that Ancient woman Chaya, Sheppard was on thin ice himself. After reading all the reports and hearing from people that had been there Skyler had to admit he was glad he'd been off world during Chaya's visit otherwise he probably would have decked Sheppard for the way he'd acted and treated the others.

Grabbing a cup of coffee Skyler watched as Sheppard exited the balcony followed by Elizabeth a short time later. Knowing Elizabeth's expressions as well as he did Skyler could see the hint of an amused smile on her face as she looked at the clay pot in her hands. Looked like Sheppard had found a way to start clawing his way out of the doghouse, now if only Skyler could figure it out.

Catching sight of Skyler, Elizabeth altered her course to walk past him, "Don't think I don't know that it was you who told him." She kept her voice low not wanting to be over heard.

"Told who what?" Skyler scrunched his brow in confusion.

"John, that it was my birthday." Her smile grew slightly as she continued past him. Skyler's eyes grew wide causing him to look like a deer caught in the head lights as he quickly counted the days in his head.

"Shit!" He muttered softly under his breath. He had completely forgotten that it was Elizabeth's birthday she would kill him if she found out. Having to figure out away to save his hide Skyler made some excuse to Grodin then disappeared out of the control room.

--

Hovering unnoticed in the background of the infirmary Skyler watched the elderly woman that had been found in stasis sleep. There was something about the woman that was eerily familiar to him but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was and it was starting to bug the hell out of him.

When she finally woke up he watched in even more confusion as she addressed Carson by name. It wasn't long before Elizabeth and McKay arrived to speak with their mystery guest. There was some discussion between the three that Skyler couldn't hear then they moved over to the older woman's bed, Carson still panicked and Elizabeth and Rodney both intrigued by whatever Carson had said.

Studying the woman as Elizabeth spoke with her Skyler began to notice certain mannerisms that tugged at something in the back of his mind. Shifting his gaze from the woman to Elizabeth and back it suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks why the older woman was so familiar to him.

"_Oh yes. I'm you, Elizabeth."_ About to speak up about his epiphany Skyler paused when he heard the woman confirm what he'd just figured out.

Trying to wrap his mind around every thing he didn't catch the older woman's brief explanation about how she'd gotten there. Dealing with an alternant version of a person wasn't exactly new to him – he'd been at the SGC long enough to know about and even deal with a few alternant realities – but the fact that it was an alternant older version of Elizabeth had Skyler doing a double take.

--

Several hours later Skyler found himself in the infirmary sitting by the elder-Weir's bedside, Sheppard and Rodney sleeping a short distance away. He'd heard her story of how she'd come to be there and wasn't the least bit surprised by the sacrifices she'd made to insure the success of the expedition the second time around.

Seeing her eyes flutter open he gently took hold of her hand and softly rubbed the skin with his thumb. "Hey."

As she fixed her gaze on him her brow scrunched in momentary confusion before recognition took hold, "Skyler."

He smiled softly, "How're you doing?"

"Been better," she turned her gaze to take in the rest of the room. "Where are the others?"

"McKay and Sheppard are both out cold in the corner over there and Beckett pulled rank on Elizabeth forcing her to go get something to eat then sleep." The sat silently for a few moments before Skyler remembered part of the reason he was there, reaching under his chair to grab the object he'd set there and placed it by her side. "Happy birthday."

"Birthday?" She frowned softly before remembering that John had said something about it being her birthday earlier. Looking at the object by her side she smiled fondly at seeing the small stuffed bear. "You still have this?"

"Of course I still have Bubba," Skyler ducked his head slightly before looking up to meet the elder woman's gaze. "You gave him to me just after my mom…you told me that as long as I had him with me I'd never be alone, I'd always have someone watching over me keeping me safe…someone to stop all the bad things happening."

"I remember," Elder-Weir absently fiddled with one of the bear's tattered ears.

"Yeah, I figured you could use him more than me right now. Besides I figure it's only fair that you get a birthday present, seeing as how it is your birthday as well as hers."

"Thank you," she squeezed his hand. "But you know what I'd really like for my birthday?"

"Name it."

"I'd like to hear you play one last time." She smiled again and sighed as her eyes fluttered closed. "I know you brought your guitar with you."

"Yeah I can do that." Skyler gently kissed her forehead as she drifted off to sleep again. He continued to hold her hand a moment longer before pulling away. Setting the bear on the bedside table he quietly made his way out of the room.

--

Entering the infirmary Elizabeth silently made her way past the sleeping forms of Rodney and John. Sitting in the chair by her older version's bed she paused at seeing the stuffed bear she'd given to Skyler years ago sitting on the bedside table. Carefully, almost as if handling an ancient artifact, she picked it up, remembering the day she'd given it to Skyler. It had been just after his mom's funeral and Skyler had been having a hard time, Elizabeth had wanted to do something to help so she'd given him Bubba.

When she'd been a child her dad had used to bring her a stuffed animal every time he returned home from negotiations – Bubba had been the first and had always been her favorite. For years she had dragged Bubba everywhere with her, he always made her feel safe and loved. She was surprised to find that Skyler still had the bear.

"Damn! Fell asleep again!"

Hearing her other self speak up Elizabeth set the bear back on the table, turning her attention to the other woman. "Well, you're not the only one." She looked over at John and Rodney then back to the older woman. "Are you in any pain?"

Walking back into the infirmary, guitar in hand, Skyler paused in the doorway watching the two Elizabeth's talking. It was interesting watching the two together; they were so much alike and yet so different from each other.

"Enjoy the moment -- what's here right now. The sun, the breeze ... our birthday!" Skyler couldn't agree more with the older woman's words.

"Skyler couldn't keep it to himself, huh?" Elizabeth tried to look annoyed – try being the operative word.

"Sheppard actually." She smiled faintly. "I'm just saying stop being so damned hard on yourself. Life is quick."

"Not for you."

"It was my choice, Elizabeth. I didn't second-guess it then, and I don't regret it now."

Quietly sliding into the room Skyler propped the guitar against the wall and sat on one of the stools in the room, listening to the elder Weir tell the rest of her story. When she finished and told Elizabeth about the note she'd had with her he subconsciously moved in closer as Elizabeth roused Sheppard and McKay. Hearing the heart monitor flatline his gaze snapped to the older Elizabeth, his heart dropping.

--

Later that night Skyler sat out on one of the many balconies with his guitar playing a slow beautiful tune. The music swelled with feelings of hope, fear and a range of other emotions. The song finished, trailing off into silence, and he sat still for a moment, his eyes closed as he breathed.

"That was beautiful."

Startled by the unexpected interruption Skyler's head snapped up, seeing Elizabeth standing in the doorway. Moving over to the railing she leaned against it folding her arms around herself.

Setting the guitar aside he moved to join her. "It's what she wanted, to hear me playing one last time."

"She would have loved it, I did." Unfolding an arm she held Bubba out to Skyler. "You left this in the infirmary."

"Keep him," he shrugged not taking the bear. It seemed appropriate especially since he still hadn't figured out what to give her. "Happy birthday."

"You sure? I know how much you loved this bear." Elizabeth held the stuffed animal in front of her.

"Yeah you need him more than I do." Nodding her head Elizabeth folded her arms again. The two fell into an uncertain silence.

"I'm sorry." Elizabeth finally broke the silence.

"For what?" Skyler looked at his aunt questioningly.

"For being so distant lately. Things have been tough for me lately and I guess in away I've been taking it out on you using the nanite outbreak as an excuse. But the older me made me realize that life is short and I don't want things to be like they are between us now."

"Elizabeth you have nothing to be sorry for. You have every right to be angry with me about what I did, but I agree I don't like the way things are between us right now."

"Do you think we can fix things between us?"

"I don't know if things will ever to be exactly like they were before, but we're family and we can do anything we set our minds to." It wasn't going to be an over night thing but he had no doubt they'd be able to fix things between them.

"Good." Reaching over Elizabeth hugged her nephew, before turning towards the door. "I should get going somebody's probably looking for me."

Grabbing her hand Skyler stopped her leaving, "Are you okay?"

"Honestly I don't know yet. Just when I thought things couldn't get any weirder around here I find an alternate version of myself. It's strange but I'm not sure how exactly I should be feeling. I _should_ know how to feel, but I don't and it's frustrating."

"You just faced your own mortality that's liable to throw anyone for a loop. On the bright side though at least you know you're going to age nicely."

Elizabeth had to laugh, "There is that." She gave him another hug, "That's one of the things I like about you Sky, you always seem to find the humor in things."

"I do what I can." He shrugged.

"Thank you," she kissed his cheek then pulled away. "Now I really should be going." Elizabeth headed for the door.

"You work to hard." Skyler spoke under his breath, knowing it was pointless to try telling her that.

Elizabeth paused at the door looking over her shoulder, "oh and Skyler I forgive you for forgetting it was my birthday this morning."

"Wha? How?" Skyler felt his jaw drop. Elizabeth just smirked disappearing through the door. Shaking his head Skyler turned back to the view, there were just some things that he was never going to understand about his aunt.


	12. Chapter 12

"You're sure I can't talk you out of this?" Skyler asked Elizabeth as he clipped a P-90 to his vest.

"Positive." Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at her nephews over protectiveness.

Skyler's team along with Elizabeth were getting ready to gate back to P2X-458 one of the gate addresses left by the older Weir that had been previously explored by Skyler's team. So far out of the five addresses, three of them had been a bust and Sheppard's team was scheduled to check out the final address in a few days.

The team had been on P2X-458 the day before and found some ruins with Ancient writing all over them, hoping the writings would lead them to the location to a ZPM Elizabeth had insisted on returning to the planet to do the translation. The planet as far as they could tell was uninhabited, but Skyler had an uneasy feeling about going back, not that he would say anything with out solid proof that they shouldn't go back.

Once through the gate Skyler left Axle and Blue to cover the gate while he led Elizabeth and Brain to the ruins. During the walk he couldn't shake the feeling of being watched but unfortunately the Ancient scanners didn't work on the planet – something to do with atmospheric interference – so he couldn't check for extra life signs.

Just as they reached the ruins there was some rustling in the underbrush. Stopping Skyler held a hand up to halt the other two.

"Major?" Brain noticed Skyler had tensed up, his hand sliding to his P-90.

"There's something in the brush." Skyler slowly flipped the P-90 safety off.

"An animal maybe?" Elizabeth offered.

"Maybe." Skyler activated his radio, "Coop, report."

"_Everything's quiet here."_ Axle answered.

"Keep your eyes open, I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this place –."

No sooner had Skyler spoken a small dart shot out of the bushes hitting Blue in the neck, followed quickly by a second that hit Elizabeth. Instantly bringing his gun up Skyler covered his fallen charges while trying to locate the sniper. Before he even had the chance to choose a direction he felt a dart dig into his own neck, reaching up he pulled it out only to feel two more darts hit him; one in the shoulder the other in the leg. Rapidly loosing consciousness Skyler barely registered the sound of Axle trying to get a response from him over the radio. He grunted in pain as his right shoulder slammed into the cobblestone floor of the ruins as darkness fully over took him.

--

Rejoining the world of consciousness Skyler felt like his head was going to explode. Trying to move his hands he found that they were tied behind his back around a post. Attempting to work the stiffness out of his shoulders he grunted as a sharp pain shot through his right shoulder.

"Sky?" Brain having heard the grunt turned his attention to the man. Skyler could hear the relief in his teammates voice and knew he should probably reply but he was a little busy trying not to throw up.

"Skyler?" Elizabeth didn't miss the pain filled expression on her nephew's face.

"Shoulder…" Skyler choked out getting the nausea under control.

Looking up he saw that Brain and Elizabeth were tied up in the same fashion as him. They were being held in some sort of empty hut, or maybe a large storage shed, there were three wooden support posts – which the three of them were tied to – the floor was dirt overlaid with bits of what might have been hay or straw and a small work bench in a corner, which much to Skyler's surprise had their gear spread out on it.

"Heard anything from our jailers?" He shifted around leaning against the wooden post.

"Not yet." Elizabeth answered.

Skyler was stopped from asking any more questions by the sound of the door opening. A man in a black uniform, flanked by two menacing looking guards entered the room.

Ignoring the pain in his shoulder Skyler pushed himself to his feet. "Why have you taken us prisoner?"

He nearly blacked out from pain when one of the guards slammed the butt end of a gun into his already injured shoulder – if it hadn't been dislocated before it was now. "You do not speak unless spoke to."

"I need not justify my actions to you. You are my prisoners." The man in the black uniform spoke. "Now which of you is the leader of your group?"

"I am," Skyler quickly replied shooting a 'keep your mouths shut' look towards Elizabeth and Brain. As far as he was concerned this was a military matter and being the only military member there he technically was in charge.

"Take him." The guards quickly moved to untie Skyler from the post hauling him out the door ignoring the protests of the other two.

--

It had been over an hour since Skyler had been taken and Elizabeth was really beginning to get worried. Being tied up and having no information about their captors wasn't helping. Brain had tried his best to reassure her but he was worried himself. Having fallen into an uneasy silence the two jumped when the door slammed open.

The two guards from before entered the room dragging Skyler between them. After tying him back up to his post they left without a word. Letting out a soft grunt Skyler shifted around trying to find a position to sit in that didn't send pain shooting through his abused body.

"Skyler?" Brain questioned hearing his grunt of pain.

"I'll live." Skyler ground out between clenched teeth.

"Did you learn anything about who's holding us?" Elizabeth inquired. She was worried about her nephew, but if they had any hope of getting out of there they needed information.

"Not really, they weren't exactly in a chatty mood. But in between beatings I did pick up something about trespassing, holy ground, and wrath of the gods…I kind of blacked out at that point." He paused trying to fight his bodies demand for sleep; it was a loosing battle. "Not to be rude but I think I'm gonna pass out now. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves." He succumbed to darkness not hearing what the others said.

--

Aching muscles and a dull throbbing in his shoulder pulled Skyler back to consciousness. He wasn't sure how long he'd been out but judging by his cramped arm muscles it'd been awhile. Lifting his head slightly he paused when the dim light peaking through a crack in the wall glinted off of something on the floor.

He vaguely registered the sound of Elizabeth and Brain, softly discussing their options, his attention focused elsewhere. Everything else – the soft-spoken voices, his cramped arms, the searing pain shooting through his dislocated shoulder – was secondary to the small piece of jagged glass he could just see poking out from under the hay and dirt a few feet away on the hut floor.

With his hands tied behind his back around one of the wooden posts in the room, a few feet might as well have been a galaxy away, unless…ignoring the pain in his shoulder Skyler twisted his torso around so that he could examine the post. A sly grin formed when he noticed that a section of the post just above his head had rotted through leaving it very weak. If he could just get the post to move enough the rotten wood would give out leaving just enough of a gap to slip the rope binding his hands through. The hard part would be getting the rope over his head from behind his back – this was going to hurt.

After taking a moment to visualize in his head what he was about to do Skyler slowly pushed himself to his feet and leaned forward as far as he could in order to test the move ability of the post as well as to stretch out his stiff and aching arms. Satisfied he threw himself backwards slamming his back into the post. He did it two more times before stopping to check the rotten section of his post.

"What're you doing?" Elizabeth, having finally noticed that Skyler was awake, demanded.

"Getting us the hell out of here." Was his reply as he again rammed his back into the post.

"How, by busting your back against that post?" Brain wasn't a medical doctor or any thing, but he was pretty sure throwing himself against a post wasn't helping Skyler's shoulder, numerous bruises, and who knew what other injuries.

This time Skyler didn't bother to answer, he'd managed to form a gap in the wood and was now focused solely on what he had to do next.

Ignoring the searing pain emanating from his right shoulder he began lifting his arms behind his back. When they were as high as he could take them he took a deep breath biting his lip to keep a cry of pain from escaping his throat before popping his shoulders out of their sockets.

Through the agonizing pain Skyler heard the sickening pop of his shoulders tearing from their sockets as he wrenched his bound wrists above his head. Yanking the rope through the gap he brought his arms down in front of him as he dropped to his knees. Resting his head on the ground he bit his lip harder to stop the scream of agony from ripping out of his throat.

Regaining his composure he spit the blood from where he'd bitten through his lip out of his mouth and straightened back up on his knees. Shuffling around slightly he slammed his left shoulder into the post he'd just been tied to, popping it back into its socket; he didn't bother with the right, it was too busted up for him to pop back in place on his own. Pushing the pain shrieking though his shoulders to the back of his mind Skyler grabbed the piece of glass off the floor and used it to cut the rope binding his hands.

"Answer your question?" Skyler croaked out as he cut the rope binding Brain's hands around his own post. Not waiting for an answer he moved to free Elizabeth.

Glad that their captors had been stupid enough to leave their gear in the same room Skyler moved over to the workbench doing a quick inventory of what was there. Satisfied everything was there he handed Brain and Elizabeth their vests.

"I can trust you to try and not shoot me with this?" Skyler held the P-90 out to Brain, "Cause I can't shoot a P-90 worth shit with just my left hand and there's no way I'm going to be able to use my right hand."

There was a reason Brain only carried a side arm off world and not a P-90. The last time he'd handled one during his weapons training, he'd nearly shot Skyler in the leg. Ever since then Skyler had banned Brain from carrying anything bigger than a 9mm unless it was an emergency.

Shooting a glare at his friend Brain took the P-90 and clipped the gun to his vest. Tucking one of the 9mm into the waistband of his pants Skyler held the second one out to Elizabeth. He knew that she despised the use of guns but this was one time she was going to have to push her feelings aside and deal with it.

"Skyler…" Elizabeth didn't take the gun, looking at Skyler like he was crazy.

"Don't argue with me about this, Elizabeth. You need to be able to defend yourself if you have to." Skyler was in full soldier mode.

Elizabeth stared back at him, her gaze deepening. Skyler's expression was imploring, but behind that, something close to fear subtly grabbed her. Hesitantly she took the offered gun, tucking it into the back waistband of her pants noticing the way Skyler's tension eased a slight fraction.

"Good now let's go."

Skyler carefully pulled the door open slightly checking for any guards outside. There were none, either these guys were overly confident in them selves or really stupid. At the moment he didn't care, whatever it was it was to their advantage. It was almost dark outside, which lessened the chance of them being seen as they made their way into the surrounding forest.

They'd only been walking a short while when shouting could suddenly be heard behind them. Not waiting to see how close the guards were Skyler hurriedly ushered Elizabeth and Brain deeper into the under brush. Moving as quietly as they could through the brush Skyler almost missed the small cave entrance covered by overgrowth in the cliff side they'd been following.

Skyler held the overgrowth out of the way so the other two could crawl in, "Stay here and don't move until I get back. I'm going to lead them away from here."

"Skyler…" Elizabeth tried to protest, but was cut off by the glare he shot her.

Letting the overgrowth go Skyler disappeared into the twilight. When he felt like he was far enough away from the cave he started to make as much noise as he could to draw the guards towards him. Running as fast as he could he crashed through the brush pushing branches aside, the guards' voices echoing behind him.

Skyler's heart thumped hard inside his chest, each step sent searing pain stabbing through his shoulder. He didn't know how long he ran but eventually his body forced him to slow down, dropping behind a bolder he listened for the sound of his pursuers. After several minutes of not hearing anything he slowly started to circle back to where he'd left the others.

The first rays of daylight were just barely beginning to peak over the horizon when he finally made it back to the cave. Too exhausted to put up a fight he allowed Brain to lower him to the ground, leaning his back against the wall.

"Thanks," Skyler accepted the canteen Elizabeth handed him. "We should be safe here 'til nightfall then we can headed for the gate."

"Do we even know where the gate is?" Brain inquired as he set about checking Skyler over putting his basic first-aid skills to use.

"At least a night's walk north…" Skyler grunted as Brain started to poke at his shoulder. The doctor gave him an apologetic look but didn't stop his examination.

"You're sure?" Elizabeth hoped he was cause she had no clue where they were or even if they were still on P2X-458.

"Yeah," he nodded. "You see that mountain ridge in the distance there, looks kind of like a bent thumb pointing to the right?" He used his good arm to point at said mountain ridge that could be seen through a gap in the overgrowth. Elizabeth nodded. "Well that ridge is also visible from the Stargate only closer. So if we head in that direction we should be able to find the gate –." He cut off as Brain tried to rotate his shoulder causing agonizing pain to race through said shoulder. "Shit Brain! Would you leave my damn shoulder alone."

"Baby," Brain kept his voice low so only Elizabeth could hear – soldiers they were the biggest babies. "Well major I think it's safe to say your shoulder's dislocated."

"No shit Sherlock, I coulda told you that with out all the poking and prodding." Skyler gritted his teeth.

"Skyler!" Elizabeth admonished.

"Sorry, long night." He leaned his head back against the wall, his eyelids feeling heavy.

"Hold on Skyler don't go falling asleep yet, we still need to put your shoulder back in its socket." Brain started rummaging through his vest. "Looks like all we have in the form of pain killer is aspirin, which means you're still going to feel a fair amount of pain."

"Yeah, yeah I know, this isn't the first dislocated shoulder I've had, remember? Just get it over with."

Nodding his head Brain positioned himself to pop the shoulder back in the socket. Feeling kind of useless at the moment Elizabeth moved to sit on Skyler's left side, gripping his hand supportively. Biting his lip to keep from screaming Skyler nodded at Brain that he was ready.

Brain tried to make it as quick and painless as he could but in the end it was too much for Skyler. The pain of his shoulder being put back in its socket combined with the exhaustion he felt after running around all night caused Skyler to pass out. After using a couple of Ace bandages to form a crude sling to support Skyler's shoulder Brain spread his jacket over the man to keep him warm then settled in to wait for nightfall. Following Brain's example Elizabeth pillowed her jacket behind her nephew's head then settled in her self.

--

By the time nightfall came Skyler was awake again and itching to get moving. Two power bars each and four aspirins for Skyler later the group was ready to move out. Keeping his eyes and ears open for their pursuers Skyler set a brisk pace back towards the gate. It took most of the night but they finally reached the gate by early morning.

While Elizabeth and Brain waited hidden away in the underbrush Skyler silently made his way to the top of the small ridge that over looked the Stargate. Looking through his binoculars he swore softly at seeing the armed men standing in front of the gate.

Making his way back to where the others were waiting he dropped down next to them with a sigh. "Gates being guarded by a group of our lovely hosts, which explains the lack of a rescue team." He really hoped the rest of his team had made it through the gate because he was sick of this planet and really didn't want to have to come back and save their asses.

"So where do we go from here?" Brain questioned.

"I have an idea, c'mon." Leading the way Skyler led the other two to the top of the ridge. Pulling out one of his grenades he held it out to Brain, "How's your throwing arm?"

"What are you planning?" Brain wearily took the grenade.

"I'm gonna circle around to the other side of this ridge directly across from here and create a diversion. When I give the signal I want you to pull the pin and throw that grenade as hard as you can towards the gate. Once the area in front of the gate is clear you both head for the gate, dial Atlantis, and go through."

"What about you?" Elizabeth frowned, she was starting to think her nephew had been spending too much time around John.

"I'll be right behind you." He started to move away, not giving her a chance to argue.

Once Skyler reached the other side he quickly set about setting up the few claymores he had with him along the tree line. Retreating back into the woods he pulled the detonator out of his vest and set the claymores off. In the resulting confusion the majority of the guards took off into the woods either running away in fear or trying to find the source of the explosion.

Activating his radio he told Brain to throw the grenade. Hearing the explosion Skyler gave it a five count before he started to fire off shots from his 9mm hoping to cause even more confusion. Circling back around to the gate he arrived just in time to see Elizabeth and Brain disappear through the gate. Hearing some of the guards closing in on him Skyler broke out into a sprint towards the gate.

Like the night before each step sent searing pain shooting through his shoulder but he didn't stop. When the guards started to shoot at him as he approached the active gate Skyler threw him self through the rippling blue surface. He landed hard on the other side, his shoulder screaming with fresh agony as it slammed against the unyielding surface.

His entire world narrowed down to nothing but the pain bursting through his shoulder Skyler didn't hear the gate shut down or the call for a med team. Giving into his bodies demands he let the heavy weariness take him, his eyes drifting closed as he sank into a deep, warm drowsiness.

--

The sound of bickering voices pulled Skyler back into consciousness. Sluggishly prying his eyes open he found that the voices belonged to Axle, Blue, and Brain. Feeling something squeeze his left hand he turned his gaze in that direction finding a sleeping Aria sitting by his bedside, her head pillowed on the bed.

"Hey Moe, Larry, and Curly shut it, people trying to sleep here." Skyler's voice was dry and scratchy.

"It's about time." Axle moved to sit in a chair on the right side of the bed.

Not even thinking about it Skyler tried to move his right arm, which sent off a dull throb in the shoulder. Just then Carson came walking into the room. Seeing the flash of pain cross his patient's face Carson moved to inject some pain meds into the IV attached to the back of the younger man's left hand. Despite trying to be careful Carson's movements caused Aria to wake up.

"Hey," Aria rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "How're you feeling?"

"Good, Beckett just gave me a shot of happy juice." In fact whatever Carson had given him had left him feeling relaxed and his limbs feeling heavy.

"Good," She smacked Skyler in the left shoulder. "If you ever scare the hell out of me like that again I'll make the Wraith look like saints to you."

"Ow," Skyler tried pouting, but it was ruined by the yawn that escaped.

"Alright people time to go, the major needs to rest." Carson started ushering Skyler's team out of the infirmary. Skyler had to smile at the way his friends whined and complained about being forced to leave as he drifted back to sleep content that everything was okay.


	13. Chapter 13

He was not hiding, damn it he _wasn't_.

That's what Skyler kept telling him self as he sat at a table in the darkened back corner of the mess hall as far away from people as he could get and still be in the room. Sheppard and his team had been coming and going from Dagan for the last two weeks trying to find a ZPM and since Beckett was still refusing to clear him for full active duty for at least another week Skyler was stuck in Atlantis doing the administrative side of the military contingent and playing lab rat for the scientists.

So far in the last two weeks he'd filled out over twenty different forms and reports, disciplined four soldiers for fighting, been dragged down to the labs so many times he'd lost count, diffused two different plans of mutiny; one in the engineering department and one in the botany department, and to top it all off he'd start physical therapy on his shoulder a couple of days ago – people at the SGC thought Frasier had been a Napoleonic power monger, she had nothing on Aria.

"Since when do we have deep space sensors?" Axle questioned as he, Blue, and Brain plopped down at Skyler's table ignoring the murderous glare he was shooting them.

"Since today I guess." Brain shrugged. "I was in the control room when Zelenka and Chuck were working on one of the systems that was malfunctioning when they stumbled across the sensors. Not sure what set 'em off yet but Zelenka's team's working on it."

"What about you, you know anything about what's going on?" Blue directed his question to Skyler.

"Oh, yes because between drowning in paper work, playing lab rat, refereeing kindergartners, and dealing with my psychotic power hungry girlfriend I was able to use my magical psychic powers to learn the answers of the universe."

"Somebody's cranky today." Axle smirked.

"Bite me." Reluctantly Skyler forced himself out of his seat. "I better get going, I've stayed in one spot too long somebody's bound to find me soon." With that he left the mess hall to go not hide somewhere else.

--

Walking down the corridor Skyler paused to lean against the wall as he watched Elizabeth and Zelenka walking in his direction.

"Ok well keep me in the loop." Elizabeth nodded.

Zelenka gave a small laugh, "You are the loop."

"Isn't that a nice thing to say hmm…" They kept walking for a little bit in silence. Elizabeth glanced at Zelenka, "You're more than welcome to keep walking with me…but if there's something that you needed to do."

Zelenka stopped "Yes, Yes…"

Elizabeth continued walking as Zelenka headed in the other direction. Amused Skyler pushed off the wall and fell in step with her.

"What?" She noticed the amusement on his face.

"The things you could do with your power over men." He mockingly shuttered.

"What are you talking about?"

"You're telling me you've never noticed the effect you have on the guys around here." Skyler raised a skeptic eyebrow.

"I think you need your eyes checked." Elizabeth shook her head.

"De Nile ain't just a river in Egypt, you know."

"How's the shoulder?" She changed the subject.

"Okay at the moment," he adjusted the sling to keep the strap from digging into his neck. "But I do have a session with Aria later so things are likely to change."

"Baby," Elizabeth teased as she got on the transporter leaving Skyler to glare at the doors as they closed in his face.

--

"_Who are we going to get to fly the third jumper?"_

Another two days and Skyler was ready to toss him self off the nearest balcony. As if they didn't have enough things to worry about they now had to worry about a Wraith dart reaching the city in – he checked his watch – ten minutes. He'd just finished helping confine the general population to their quarters and was now in the control room waiting for the explosion he knew was going to come from Beckett.

"You want me to WHAT!" Yeah he was definitely not happy.

"Look Doc I know how you feel about piloting the jumpers and I wouldn't be asking if there was any other choice." Skyler pushed his frustration deep down inside.

"But why me?"

"Because we still haven't gotten a hold of Sheppard, Markham is already flying one jumper, and Stackhouse is flying the other. There is no one else even close to having enough experience flying the jumpers…unless of course you're willing to clear me for duty."

"Not a bloody chance!"

"It's settled then, you're flying the third jumper. Bates is waiting for you in the jumper bay." Not giving the man time to argue Skyler started pushing him towards the jumper bay.

Later Skyler watched as Beckett, Stackhouse, and Bates entered the control room to debrief. While Stackhouse and Bates stood back silently Bates took the lead answering Elizabeth's questions. Looking closer at Beckett, Skyler noted that the man looked a little pale. It was common knowledge how afraid Carson was of Ancient technology, but when push came to shove the man did what had to be done. Skyler had no doubt the man would be ok in time.

--

It had been a long day and Skyler was ready to crash, his shoulder was starting to throb, he hadn't really eaten anything all day; he just wanted a nice hot shower and to crawl into bed for the next week. He only had to hold out long enough to hear Sheppard and his teams debrief and then he could call it a night.

"What are those?" Rodney questioned as Zelenka brought up the sensor readings on the large screen in the control room.

"Wraith Hive ships," Radek announced. "Three of them. The systems analysis just got back."

"Great," Sheppard said. "Where are they headed?"

"If they maintain direction and speed, they'll be over our planet within two weeks." Elizabeth answered.

As the group broke up and went their separate ways Skyler shuffled his way out of the control room headed towards his quarters. He didn't understand why he was so exhausted he hadn't really done anything but stand around all day and yet he could hardly keep his eyes open – he blamed it on the pain meds Beckett was pumping into him for his shoulder.

Slipping into his bed Skyler was asleep before his head hit the pillow. There was going to be a lot of work to do in the next two weeks and this was probably going to be the last half decent night's sleep he got for awhile.


	14. Chapter 14

"Ford," Skyler stepped into the empty conference room Ford was using to transfer all the personal messages from tape to digital video and edit them, preparing them to be sent to earth if McKay's plan worked.

"Sir," Ford started to stand up but stopped when Skyler motioned for him to stay put. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"No, just thought I'd pop in and see how things were going." He sat down adjusting the sling holding his arm.

"In other words Beckett still won't clear you and you're going stir crazy being chained to a desk." Ford smiled. He'd been there before back during the first days of the expedition when the giant energy creature had been released in the city and attacked him; Beckett had refused to let him go back to duty for a week.

Skyler opened his mouth to deny it, but then thought better of it, "Yeah pretty much."

"Here," Ford slid some of the discs over. "I don't think these people will mind you looking at their tapes."

Nodding his thanks Skyler took the discs and loaded the first one into the extra laptop sitting on the table. The first message to come up was Axle's.

_"Mom, Pops...I know it's been awhile but you can't blame it on me this time, blame it on the military and the classified stuff they got me working on. But that's not important I just wanted to let you know that I'm doing okay and that I'm happy. I love my job and the things I'm doing here, I wish I could give you specifics I know you'd both love it here. Oh and tell Matt that if he even so much as lays a finger on my mustang his ass is road kill. He may be my little brother but I've ridden with the kid and he is one scary ass driver, almost makes me want to apologize for all the crap I gave you when I first started driving. Anyway I should stop rambling and get back to work. I don't know when I'll be able to get back home but I'm doing everything I can to make it sooner rather than later. Give my love to the rest of the family"_

The message went static-y for a moment then Skyler appeared – minus the sling on his arm, Beckett would kill him if he ever found out, but Skyler didn't want Axle's parents worrying about him more than they already were going to.

_"Mr. and Mrs. Coop how's it goin'? Hope you're both doing well. Hope you don't mind if I swipe some of Axle's airtime to say a few things of my own. First off I want you to know that I'm doing my best to keep Coop out of trouble. I want you to know that I miss you guys and I appreciate everything you've done for me over the years. And don't worry I'll do everything in my power to make sure Axle makes it home alive. Besides I have twenty-six years of time and effort invested in him, I'd really hate to have to break in a new partner in crime. Take care and I hope to see you soon."_

The next message was Blue's to his twin sister:

_"Hey Kristi, I know this is kind of coming out of nowhere after so long but I wanted to tell you some things and I don't know if I'll get the chance after this. I can't tell you where I am or what I'm doing but we're facing a tough road ahead of us and I'm not going to lie to you there's a good chance I might not make it. I want you to know that no matter what happens I love you and that despite what we're facing here I am happy, I'm experiencing the adventure of a lifetime and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world."_

Next up was Brain's:

_"Unfortunately I'm one of those few people here that don't really have anyone to send a message to, but I guess I'd like to say a something anyways even if the Brass are the only ones who see this. This last year has been one hell of a ride. We've had our good and bad moments. I'm sure judging by the reports you'll think more bad than good but you'll be hard pressed to find anyone here who would trade this experience for anything. It's been a pleasure working with the members of this expedition as well as those back at the SGC and I look forward to having the chance to continue working with these people."_

Pulling up a fourth message he saw that it was Aria's. Skyler already knew some of what was in the second half of the message but was curious what she'd said in the first part.

_"Hi Mom, Dad. I'm sending this to let you know that I'm okay and I'm sorry I haven't written or anything but you know how it can be things with work and life in general can get hectic sometimes. Things are going great for me I love my job and I have great friends. Also as cliché as it may sound I think I may have found Mr. Right, his name is Skyler Cain and he is the sweetest, most caring man I've ever met; I think he could be 'The One' some day. I know what your thinking; I'm too young to be dating let alone thinking about 'the one' but I'm not your little girl anymore…" Her gaze flickered to something off screen as a smile formed on her face._

"_Speaking of the devil…Skyler come here…" she frowned in amusement, disappearing off screen for a moment reappearing dragging a reluctant Skyler with her. "Mom, Dad this is Skyler. Skyler say hi to my parents."_

"_Aria I'm sure your parents don't want to hear from me."_

"_Sure they do, after all you are the man who thinks he's good enough for me and since they won't be able to meet you in person yet this will have to do, now say hello."_

_Sighing in defeat Skyler gave a little wave to the camera, "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Chen I look forward to meeting you soon but until then I give you my word that I'll look out for your daughter and do everything I can to keep her happy. And if by some very slim chance I do something to hurt her you have permission to kick my ass…although you'll probably have to get in line behind a lot of the people we work with here."_

_"See that wasn't so hard." She kissed his cheek then turned back to the camera. "I hope to see you soon until then take care of yourselves."_

When the message ended Skyler sat back a slightly stunned look on his face. She thought he was Mr. Right…possibly The One…he'd never known a girl who thought that of him – that he knew of anyway – it was kind of nice, a boost to the ego.

"Sir?" Ford looked up to see the hint of a smirk and distant look on his CO's face.

"Uh…? Oh, it's nothing." He pulled himself together and went back to work. It took another half hour but the two of them got the job done and were now waiting on McKay.

--

An hour later Skyler paced around his quarters deep in thought. It was done. The gate had opened as planed and the transmission had been sent. They'd managed to cram everything they had wanted to into the one point three second long data burst. Now all they could do was hope that earth got their message and prepare for the arrival of the Wraith.

Besides the short little message he'd tacked onto the end of Axle's message he hadn't sent a recording of his own. He, like a dozen or so people in the city, didn't really have anyone back on earth to send a message to; his parents were dead as were his grandparents, and the only family he had left and all the close friends he had were in Atlantis already. But just because he didn't have anyone on earth to send a message to didn't mean he didn't have something to say.

Getting his thoughts in order Skyler moved to the DV camera he'd set up. Putting in the blank disc simply labeled 'Sheppard' he sat down, hitting the record button.

"_I'll try to make this quick and get right to the point since I'm sure you're wondering why I'm sending this to you sir. Basically this is incase something happens to me, I need to know that if something does happen to me that Elizabeth will be taken care of._

_I may trust the people here with my life but there's only one person here I trust to watch out for Elizabeth and that's you Sheppard. You know as well as I do how she can be sometimes, she gives the term 'workaholic' a whole new meaning. She always thinks she can take care of herself but that's not always true and she needs to be reminded of that on occasion. I'm counting on you to be the one who does the reminding if I'm not around to do it._

_Whether you realize it or not there's a connection between you and Elizabeth that runs deeper and stronger on some levels than the connection between me and her and honestly I'm still not completely sure how I feel about that, but whatever goes on between the two of you is none of my business – unless it hurts Elizabeth, then it becomes my business. Anyway what I'm trying to say is that she'll listen to you._

_Take care of her Sheppard she can only do so much on her own. Make sure that she relaxes and has some fun every now and then."_

Skyler reached to hit the stop button but paused_, "Oh and if anything happens to her I swear I'll find a way to come back and kick your ass." _

He hit the stop button and took the disc out. Grabbing a second disc labeled 'Elizabeth' he put it in and hit record.

"_I know this is a total cliché but Elizabeth if you're watching this then odds are something's happened to me. I love you Elizabeth, my whole life I've always been able to count on you being there for me no matter what I did or how bad things got. You've always been the one constant in my life and I can't even begin to thank you for that._

_Things haven't always been easy for us in Atlantis but I want you to know that I don't for one second regret coming here; I'm happy, I have friends, and I have a girlfriend that I really care about. I know that I haven't always been the easiest person to deal with especially when we were kids – I know how much of a little hellion I was – and I'm sorry about that._

_You're probably wondering why I didn't just tell you all of this in person? I've tried but I've never been very good at this kind of thing and I never seem to get what I want to say out so I'm doing it this way. Take care of yourself, don't over work so much and don't be afraid to lean on others."_

Hitting the stop button Skyler took the disc out. After tucking Elizabeth's disc into the draw of his desk and sending Sheppard's to him he left his room to go in search of his friends for an impromptu movie night.


	15. Chapter 15

Skyler sat on the edge of the infirmary bed, fiddling with the sling holding his right arm. It had been three weeks since he'd hurt his shoulder and he was ready to get back to active duty especially with the Wraith less than a week away. He looked up at the sound of footsteps to see Beckett walking towards him. He was about to try and badger Beckett into clearing him for duty when Elizabeth, Teyla, Heightmeyer, and Sheppard entered the infirmary, grabbing the doctor's full attention.

It didn't take the group long to explain to Beckett what they had discovered about why the Wraith scientist had stopped his experiments and how they were hoping that Teyla could tap into the Wraith psychic network. Having obviously been forgotten about for the moment Skyler thought about ducking out and coming back later, but his curiosity got the better of him and he stayed perched on the bed.

He watched as Teyla was prepared for hypnosis. As Dr. Heightmeyer began to speak in a low, soothing voice Teyla's eyes gradually began to close, and in a soft, dreamlike voice she began to speak. Listening to Teyla describe what she was seeing Skyler felt a slight shiver run down his spine. At Elizabeth's order to stop Beckett immediately pulled the Athosian out of the hypnosis. Gasping, Teyla sat up opening her eyes.

"Teyla, I ... I have no right to ask you to do this." Elizabeth looked at the younger woman apologetically and then walked away.

Seeing the look in her eyes Skyler was about to go after her but stopped when Sheppard beat him to it, following her out of the infirmary. Even though neither man mentioned it ever since Skyler had sent his message Sheppard had been sticking closer to Elizabeth when ever he was in the city, helping to shoulder the burden of looking out for her. As soon as Beckett had Teyla disconnected from the monitor leads the woman was out the door following after the two.

Turning to organize his equipment Beckett caught sight of Skyler, having forgotten the man was there. "Major…?" Skyler raised an eyebrow lifting his right arm to remind the doctor why he was there. "Right, right your arm. Sorry I got distracted."

"So Doc can I get rid of this damn thing and get back to my job?"

"Aye, you can take the sling off now," he held up a hand as Skyler quickly chucked the sling and got up to leave. "But I'm only clearing you for light duty, no gate travel yet."

"Oh, c'mon Doc!" the younger man protested. "You gotta let me through the gate. I'm going stir crazy here and I swear if one more beaker demands – not asks, demands – that I touch something I'm gonna snap and I guaranty it won't be pretty."

He glanced at Heightmeyer hoping for some sympathy; it was her job to look out for the mental well being of the expedition after all. She gave him a sympathetic smile but shook her head softly indicating that he was on his own.

"I know you're anxious to get back to full duty but your shoulder's not back to a hundred percent yet. While you're nerve function and range of motion are both good, I don't want to risk a possible set back by sending you back into the field to soon." Beckett folded his arms, leaning his hip against the bed.

"How long?" He frowned out the Doctor.

"If you keep up with the physical therapy and there are no complications I'd say another week, week an a half."

"I don't have a week an a half doc. We need every soldier we have when the Wraith show up."

"I'm aware of that, Major…" Beckett was about to continue but just then Elizabeth, Sheppard and Teyla returned. Giving Skyler a look that said we'll finish this later Beckett turned his attention to the three.

Watching as Teyla once again tried taping into the Wraith psychic network Skyler tensed up when suddenly Teyla's eyes snapped open, her face contorted in a wicked smile. "You are all so pathetic." Her voice was deep and savage.

While Beckett attempted to wake her up, Skyler moved closer incase whatever was controlling Teyla tried to attack anyone. Unceremoniously pulled from the hypnosis Teyla convulsed, flopping back down onto the bed with a gasp. She looked around her, bewildered by what had just happened.

--

Later that day after his session with Aria, Skyler moved through the infirmary looking forward to a nice shower. His pace slowed as he noticed the group gathered around Teyla's bed. The were attempting hypnosis with Teyla for a third time. Given what had happened last time, he didn't think it was a good idea, but there was nothing really that he could say at this point since they'd already started.

Without warning Teyla suddenly sat up, punching Beckett. Quickly she jumped off the bed grabbing the drip stand beside the bed, snapping the top half of it off. As Sheppard ducked out of the way, she swung it at the monitors beside the bed smashing them, sending sparks flying.

Looking at Sheppard, still ducked down, Teyla slammed the stand across his back. Ford, who'd been standing further back, ran towards her but she effortlessly threw him across the room. She turned towards Elizabeth next, looking at her for a moment, before she started to walk towards her. Jumping into action Skyler placed himself between Teyla and Elizabeth.

About to take a swing at Skyler, Teyla convulsed as a Wraith stunner blast hit her from behind, a second blast hit her causing her to collapse to the floor, revealing Sergeant Bates standing behind her with the Wraith stunner still aimed at her. While Beckett and Heightmeyer checked on Teyla and Elizabeth gave Ford a hand up Skyler reluctantly gave a nod of thanks to Bates. The man may have been a paranoid ass, but he had his moments of usefulness.


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: Sorry for not getting this up sooner. I have no excuse other than the fact that I am a senior in high school with _less_ than a week to graduation. Things are just piling up on me.

--

After the morning briefing Skyler left the briefing room headed for the jumper bay to help get the jumper prepped and load for McKay, Grodin, and Miller's trip out to the LaGrange point satellite. The three would go examine the satellite, fix things or not, possibly blow up some Hive ships and come home. Of course, years of working at the SGC had taught him that nothing was ever simple, so Skyler took it upon himself to double check everything he could before the group left.

Twenty minutes later just as Skyler and Miller were finishing up loading equipment and supplies McKay, followed by Grodin, came bustling into the jumper bay pulling a trolley of more equipment with him. Rolling his eyes at just how much equipment McKay insisted on taking Skyler silently loaded the trolley onto the jumper. Once everything was aboard and secured he stood back watching as the jumper took off.

--

Stopping in Carson's office doorway Blue took in his boss' appearance. He knew the man hadn't been sleeping very much the last few days and his exhaustion was beginning to show. "You should get some sleep."

"Uh…?" Carson's head shot up from where it had been resting on his hand. "Oh, Blue is there something I can do for you?" He pushed back from his desk and got to his feet.

"Yeah, you can go get some sleep." Blue gave him his best 'don't mess with me look.' "You're starting to look like something the cat dragged in."

"I appreciate the concern, but I'm fine." He started for the door.

"Yeah and aliens don't exist." He scoffed, shaking his head. "I may only be a lowly sergeant and field medic and you may be my boss but that doesn't mean I won't hesitate to have you sedated. If they fail to get the satellite working we're going to need you at your best when the shit hits the fan around here."

About to argue Carson paused realizing the younger man had a point. "Aye, maybe you're right, I could use a nap." Conceding defeat Carson shuffled out of his office headed for one of the private rooms in the back. Blue may have been right about him needing sleep, but there was no way Carson was going to leave the infirmary unless absolutely necessary.

--

Standing guard in the gate room Axle had to admit he was getting kind of bored, there were scientists and various other personal coming and going busy at work, but for the guards on duty there wasn't really anything for them to do until the Wraith arrived in two days.

With all non-essential gate travel stopped, all off world soldiers were being reassigned to other duties – Axle had drawn gate room duty. Major Sheppard's team had left to check out a possible Alpha site an hour ago but other than that nothing of any real significance had happened all day.

Suddenly the Stargate activated causing momentary chaos as the guards scrambled into ready positions and the gate technician raised the shield. Crouched next to the stairs, P-90 at the ready Axle waited along with the others.

"Receiving Ford's IDC!" Came the call from the control room.

"_Atlantis, this is Sheppard. Heads up, we're coming in hot."_ The major's voice came over the radio.

A moment later, out of the corner of his eye, Axle noted Elizabeth and Zelenka enter the room but never took his eyes off the gate. As Sheppard, Ford, and Teyla came running backwards through the gate the defense team tensed up ready incase anything followed them through. None of the soldiers stood down until the wormhole snapped out of existence and even then it took a moment for some of them to completely relax.

--

Looking over to where Radek had his forehead lowered to the workbench Brain could tell the man was trying to resist the urge to pound his head against the unyielding surface. "What's up?"

"We are hitting brick wall." The scientist, lifting his head, replied with a sigh.

That was nothing new to Brain, who'd been doing what he could to help create the computer virus they were planning to use to wipe the Ancient database clean – engineering may not have been one of his areas of expertise but he did know his way around a computer fairly well. It was a simple enough idea but the execution of it was giving them hell.

Radek rubbed the back of his neck. "The self-destruct is not enough, and if this virus doesn't work..."

"We're screwed either way," Kavanagh spoke up from his corner of the lab. "There is no way we can possibly hope to beat the Wraith. The best we can hope to do is keep them away from our galaxy."

"You really are one giant ball of sunshine aren't you Kavanagh." Brain's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"I'm just stating what everyone is thinking."

"Perhaps you should get mind reading abilities checked." Radek spoke loud enough for only Brain and the few scientists near him to hear as he went back to his work.

--

As soon as Stackhouse reported back that his team had found a viable Alpha site preparations for evacuation got under way. With Bates out of commission Skyler left Axle in charge of coordinating everything on the military side and Brain everything on the scientific side – McKay still wasn't back and Zelenka was busy working on saving as much of the database as they could.

Joining Sheppard and Ford in Elizabeth's office Skyler listened as the two reported what they'd learned about the attack on Bates, which wasn't much at all. When Beckett rushed in informing them of his findings about Bates' attack Skyler felt his breath catch. There was a Wraith in the city.

--

_"The Wraith must have been doing recon. Maybe his job is to knock out the power before the hive ship gets here -- leave us dead in the water."_

Skyler listened to the conversation going on as he along with a group of Marines geared up getting ready to go after the Wraith that had been running around loose in the city for the last two weeks.

The soldiers waited as Zelenka used the biometric sensors to find the Wraith. Once they had a location they broke up into two teams – Sheppard and Skyler took a team one way while Ford and Teyla took the other team another way.

Cautiously making there way through the corridors the team approached the Wraith's location. Getting confirmation from Zelenka that the Wraith hadn't moved and that Ford's team was nearly in place Sheppard moved his team ahead.

"My team's ready." Sheppard gestured to his men to move forward. "We're gonna breach the room at the same time from different directions. If he tries to get out the other door, take him."

_"Understood, sir. We shouldn't be more than a couple of minutes."_ Ford replied over the radio.

"Alright. Stand by."

They took up position outside the room with the Wraith in it. When the doors opened the team began to move towards it but were stopped when Wraith stunner blasts flew out of the room. The last thing Skyler was aware of before next waking up in the infirmary was the sound of a Wraith snarling triumphantly.

--

Trying to shake off the pins and needles feeling left over from the Wraith stunner Skyler shuffled into the control room just in time to hear McKay report in. As soon as they'd been released Sheppard had headed for the brig to find out the status of their prisoner so Skyler had volunteered to go to the control room and get an update on McKay's progress.

_"Doctor Weir, it's McKay. Satellite is armed and ready. It should fire within the next minute or so. Keep your fingers crossed."_

"Fingers crossed. Good luck." Elizabeth answered as she looked up catching Skyler's gaze. He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring nod. Everyone in the control room waited anxiously to hear from McKay.

"_We have a kill!" _Some of the tension in the room eased as people cheered and applauded the success.

"We copy that, Rodney." Elizabeth smiled.

"_One down, two to go!"_

Everyone's joy didn't last for long as McKay reported in again, "_Atlantis, this is McKay. We have lost the satellite."_

"Did you manage to take out any more ships?" Elizabeth felt her hope dropping.

"_Negative. Two of the hive ships are intact."_ There was a pause before he spoke again, "_Elizabeth…Peter Grodin was aboard the satellite."_

While the room got eerily quite Skyler moved closer to Elizabeth offering his silent support. He noted that Zelenka had closed his eyes, sinking his head into his hand. Skyler knew that both Zelenka and Elizabeth considered Grodin a good friend; this was another thing to add to the list of things they were all going to have to deal with when this was all over.

Elizabeth subtly gripped Skyler's hand before speaking quietly, "Understood. What's the status of the other two?"

_"They're not coming any closer. Looks like they're rethinking their plans. At the very least, he's bought us some time."_

"You can't do any more out there, Rodney. Return to Atlantis."

_"On our way."_

Taking a second to compos herself Elizabeth let go of Skyler's hand, turning to one of the technicians, "Put me on city-wide." The technician did so with out question.

"_May I have your attention, please? This is Doctor Weir. Our plan to stop the Wraith armada has failed. They will make it to Atlantis. Therefore we must begin our evacuation plans. I wish I could tell you all that this is a fight that we will win, but I can't do that. I wish I could tell you that we will find a safe harbor when we leave here. I can't promise you that either. I can tell you this: up to now, you all have accomplished extraordinary things, and I believe that even in the face of an uncertain future, as long as we stay together we have a chance to continue to do so. Now, we all have our evacuation duties, so thank you -- and I'll see you on the other side."_

Nodding at the technician to disconnect the city wide she turned to Zelenka, "Doctor Zelenka, put the virus program on standby."

Zelenka typed on his laptop, which started to beep. The screen flashed the message 'Virus program – standby.'

--

Preparing to evacuate to the Alpha site to help set up a temporary infirmary Aria took a moment to find Skyler. Finding him in the gate room she snagged his arm pulling him off to the side.

"Promise me you won't do anything stupid."

"Me do something stupid?" Skyler tried to keep the tone light, he'd known this moment was coming, but that didn't mean he wanted to deal with it.

"I'm serious Skyler. I can't loose you." The fear was clear and bright in Aria's eyes.

"Aria," He caringly cupped her face, resting his forehead against hers. "I love you, you know that and I'm gonna do everything in my power to keep you safe. If that means staying here and possibly dying then that's how it has to be….But I promise I won't go looking for trouble…and I won't do anything stupid."

He gave her a loving kiss before pulling back slightly. Their eyes locked for a moment before Aria pulled him in for a breath taking kiss. Forced to pull back or suffocate Aria hugged Skyler tight before turning to head for the gate room. Watching her go it took everything Skyler had not to go running after her, engulf her in his arms, and hide her away from everything that was going on and was about to happen.


	17. Chapter 17

Working with Axle to get the last group of personnel ready to evac to the Alpha site Skyler spotted McKay entering the control room from the jumper bay. According to the scanners the Hive Ships had started to move again meaning that time was running out for them. As McKay started to dial the gate the soldiers in the gate room prepared to send the last group through.

When an unexpected wormhole dialed in the civilians in the gate room were quickly ushered to cover while the Marines moved into battle ready positions around the gate. When help arrived from earth Skyler felt a slight weight lift from his shoulders and a serge of hope flow through him. Of course the moment Col. Everett actually started speaking crushed the brief moment of relief Skyler had felt.

The man had completely plowed over Elizabeth, being overly arrogant and condescending. In a matter of moments Everett had gone from being the barer of hope to the top of Skyler's shit list – glancing over at Sheppard he could tell the man was having similar feelings about the colonel. Then there was O'Neill…what the hell did that man think he was trying to pull reliving Elizabeth of command like that? If Skyler managed to survive the up coming battle and make it back to earth he was definitely going to have some words with the man, rank be damned.

--

After the self-destruct had been disarmed Skyler followed Elizabeth and Sheppard into the conference room that Everett had commandeered.

"Self-destruct has been aborted." Sheppard reported.

"Thank you!" Everett turned to face Sheppard and Elizabeth, "Did you contact the Alpha site?"

John glanced at Elizabeth deferring the question to her, "I asked Major Sheppard to wait until I had a chance to talk with you."

"Is that a fact?" The condescending tone that underlined Everett's voice was really beginning to grate on Skyler's nerves.

"Yes, sir." To those that didn't know John it seemed liked the calm front he was showing meant he was taking things in stride, but those that did know him knew that it was when he was calm that he was at his most dangerous.

"Major? Dial the Alpha site."

"Colonel, you've been here all of five minutes. Now, I have been responsible for the lives of the people on this base, both military and civilian, for the past several months. I'm not about to put those lives in jeopardy until I at least know how you intend to defend this city." Elizabeth was a pacifist by nature but even she had to admit it was taking all of her self-control to keep from hitting the man standing in front of her, treating her like she didn't exist, like she was nothing more than a minor annoyance.

"I don't need to explain myself to you, Doctor, and I don't need your co-operation." It was becoming obvious to Everett that these people weren't just going to roll over and except his authority…he didn't like it.

That was it; Skyler had taken just about all he was going to take of Everett's treatment of Elizabeth. He was about to rip the colonel a new one when Sheppard beat him to it only a lot subtler.

"But you could probably use mine..." Everett's gaze snapped from Elizabeth to John, "... sir. So with all due respect, please answer Doctor Weir's question."

"Is that a threat, Major?"

"No, sir. I understand you need to establish a clear chain of command, but if you cut Doctor Weir out of the loop, you'll only alienate the people whose trust and respect she's earned – which is everyone on the base, including me."

Everett turned his attention to Skyler for the first time since he'd arrived in the city, "I suppose you feel the same." It was a statement not a question. The man knew all about the relation between Skyler and Elizabeth and didn't hide what he thought about that.

"Yes, sir," Skyler met Everett's gaze. "You and your men are the outsiders here. When it comes down to it the people of this expedition – civilian _and _military – will go with Dr. Weir's orders over yours because she's earned their trust and respect…_you_ haven't."

"Is that a fact?" Everett took in the resolute faces in front of him. He knew when he was beat, shrugging he looked at Elizabeth nodding towards one of the chairs. "Have a seat."

Giving a slight nod she headed for a seat followed by the others in the room.

--

"These new guys are idiots." Brain stated as he leaned against the wall outside of the chair room. When Atlantis had contacted the Alpha site with Col. Everett's new orders Brain had been among the group of civilians that had returned with the military personnel.

"Ya, think?" Axle's voice dripped with sarcasm as he paced. The two men were stationed outside the chair room where McKay and Zelenka were working to hook up the new Mark Two naquadah generator.

"What do you know about this Everett guy?"

"Not much, just that he waltzed in here like he owned the place and started treating everybody like two year olds." He paused in his pacing to check around the corner of the corridor. "Had McKay _and_ Zelenka in pissy little shit moods within ten minutes of arriving."

"Damn, not even Sheppard's managed that. One or the other but never both at the same time." Brain pushed off the wall to peek in on the two scientists.

"I know the guy's my superior officer, but damn it the guy's an arrogant bastard. If he doesn't get that stick out of his ass and start listening to what Sheppard and Weir are telling him, he's gonna get us all killed." Axle started his pacing again.

"No argument from me." Brain took up his spot against the wall again.

"Hey one of you go get Beckett!" McKay's irritated shout came from the chair room. "We need him to initialize the chair."

Rolling his eyes Brain pushed off the wall, "I'll go, better you be here if anything happens than me."

"Make it quick, I don't wanna be left alone with these two longer then necessary." Axle called as Brain headed for the nearest transporter.

--

Watching as Everett hurried out of the infirmary barking orders Blue shook his head. That man was going to get himself and a lot of other people killed if he wasn't careful.

"That man is just asking for trouble." Carson stopped next to Blue.

"No kidding. He acts like this is just like any other battle he's fought." He looked towards the door, hearing them open. "Brain, shouldn't you be at the Alpha site?"

"Probably," Brain shrugged, turning to Carson. "Your presence has been demanded in the chair room."

"Not a bloody chance," Carson shook his head. "I'm needed here."

"We've got everything under control for the moment." Blue spoke up. "Go see what his royal pain in the ass wants. We'll hold down the fort 'till you get back."

"Traitor," Carson muttered as he was ushered out of the infirmary.

--

Making their way to the control room after checking that all the security details were in place John and Skyler picked up their pace when they heard an alarm sound.

"What's going on?" John questioned as he entered the control room, Skyler right behind him.

"We just detected a wave of objects approaching the planet." Elizabeth answered, her gaze on the screen in front of her.

"How many?" Everett inquired.

"Hundred plus." Chuck replied.

"How come they weren't detected by the long range sensors?" Skyler questioned as he moved to look at the screen showing the incoming objects.

Rodney looked at the computer in front of him, "Because they're rocks, asteroids! The Wraith must have harvested them from the system's asteroid belt and accelerated them towards us from a safe distance. The mainframe's taken this long to determine that they were a threat."

"Can they do much damage?" Elizabeth stood looking over Rodney's shoulder.

"Oh yeah. Admittedly most of them'll burn off in the atmosphere but ... that's not why they're doing it."

Everett looked towards another screen, "They're headed toward the mines."

"Well, can't they be deactivated?" Sheppard looked towards the colonel.

"No!"

Everyone turned to watch the screen that showed the asteroids heading towards the six mines. The asteroids hit causing four of the mines to explode. A moment later the final two were hit and exploded as well.

Rodney sank back in his chair, "Well that's that. Your mines make one hell of a bang, Colonel … I'm sure the Wraiths' ears are ringing."

"What's the status of the hive ships?" John jumped in before Rodney could really get started tearing Everett a new one.

"There's no way of knowing. The mine detonation must have overloaded the sensors."

"How long until they're back up?" Skyler was pretty sure he already knew the answer to that one.

"There's a lot of residual radiation." Chuck typed away at his computer.

"It'll keep us blind for hours." Rodney elaborated.

"Yeah, well, they're still out there … and we just lost our primary line of defense." John summed things up.

--

In the infirmary Blue along with the other medics rushed to double check everything when the call to battle stations sounded. With the scanners down they'd had little warning about the incoming Wraith darts and it wasn't long before wounded started pouring in.

As the wounded came in Carson quickly started snapping out orders to his staff, organizing triage. The staff ran themselves ragged trying to keep up with the wounded. It served as a small distraction for most, but not all.

Blue could hear the sound of gun fire ringing through the halls and the distance sounds of darts exploding and crashing into the city. He tried to pushed everything but the wounded to the back of his mind, but the occasional explosion, even muffled as they were, made him flinch. When he let himself look around, he knew he wasn't the only one. They were all in for a long haul.

--

Swiftly moving across one of the many walk ways around the outside of the city Skyler could see fires burning everywhere lighting up the early morning sky. The fight was long from over for any of them. While the rail guns were a huge help, they weren't going to be enough. He hoped that the Daedalus arrived soon or it was going to be all over for them.

Everett and his men were good soldiers but hadn't been prepared for fighting the Wraith. They were used to dealing with the Goa'uld, who really only wanted to enslave humans not eat them. The Wraith were of an entirely different mind set and deployed different tactics.

Skyler hustled to the control room to help with the regrouping. People were missing, some were dead, and quite a few were wounded. Damage reports were coming in from all over the city and people were taking advantage of the lull in the battle to look for the missing and wounded.

--

"I think somebody needs another nap." Blue stated as he came across Carson looking dead on his feet.

"No time," Carson rubbed his tired eyes. He'd been working himself into the ground all night and had yet to take a break.

"You're about ready to fall flat on your face, take ten minutes to rest your eyes. We've got things covered at the moment." Blue took Carson firmly by one shoulder and steered him towards the couch in his office, where he sank, exhausted. "Besides what kind of example are you setting for the rest of the staff if you fall flat on your face because you were too stubborn to take a break?"

"Aye maybe you're right," Carson slurred already half asleep. "Wake me if there's an emergency."

"Sure thing." Blue shook his head, having no intention of waking the man up for at least half an hour if possible.

--

"Shit, I hate all of this waiting around." Brain complained as he took his turn to pace around outside of the chair room where Rodney was pushing a reluctant Carson into the chair so that he and Zelenka could tie it into the jumper systems.

"You could've stayed at the Alpha site." Axle adjusted his grip on his P-90.

"Still be waiting, only difference is that here at least I know some of what's going on."

"How many do you think made it into the city?"

"Does it matter? Even one Wraith is one too many." Brain continued to pace quietly up and down the hall in front of the door.

"True," Axle sighed. The two fell silent for a moment before Axle broke the silence again. "Remind me again why we came here."

"Skyler," Brain rolled his eyes. "He was dead set on coming here to watch his aunt's back, and us being us we had to tag along to make sure he didn't get himself killed."

"Right," Axle nodded slightly. "Reminded me to kick his ass if we make it out of this."

--

With both Everett and Sheppard out searching the city for Wraith Skyler was left to watch over the control room. Trusting the technicians to do their jobs he paced at the back of the room silently fuming waiting for the gate to activate. What the hell had Elizabeth been thinking going to the Genii home world alone and unarmed? And Everett was so getting his ass kicked for just letting her go with out argument.

When the gate finally activated and Elizabeth's IDC was confirmed Skyler rushed down to the gate room to meet her, ready to lay into her for putting herself in unnecessary danger. The lecture died on his lips as she shot him a glare that he hadn't had directed at him since she'd found out he was joining the Air Force.

"Give me your radio." Knowing now wasn't the time to confront her Skyler hand his radio over without question.

--

Feeling restless and anxious to get into the fight but knowing that he couldn't leave his post Skyler forced him self to stay in the control room. Watching the screens that showed a large number of Darts approaching the city he waited for word from McKay that the remote controlled jumpers were ready to go.

"Why are there no Jumpers in the air?" Elizabeth demanded to know.

"_We must have exhausted the Mark Two's energy output. It's dead."_ McKay's frustrated voice came over the radio.

"Colonel, we have a problem." Elizabeth contacted Everett over the radio.

"_What is it?"_

"We may need to give the order to evacuate."

Just then John came running into the room headed for the stairs leading to the jumper bay. "Elizabeth, wait." He stopped part ways up the stairs turning to look at her.

Turning to look at him Elizabeth realized what he was about to do, "You can't."

"I _have_ to and you know it." He silently pleaded with her to understand. This was something he had to do to keep everyone safe, to keep _her_ safe.

She shook her head not wanting to accept his reasoning, "John…" She felt a knot tighten in her chest as she stared into his eyes realizing that there was no other choice John was going to go whether she wanted him to or not. "Go."

As John nodded then continued up the stairs Elizabeth closed her eyes and bowed her head. Seeing the silent struggle she was going through Skyler moved to her side gently laying a comforting hand on her lower back. It wasn't much but Elizabeth was grateful for it anyway.

"_What's the status on that damned Jumper?" _Everett's voice over the radio brought them back to the task at hand.

"It's on its way." Elizabeth answered, her voice emotionless.

--

Skyler and those in the control room stared at the screen watching as Sheppard's cloaked jumper moved towards the Hive ships. If this worked someone else was going to have to pilot a second jumper to deliver the second bomb. The only people left in Atlantis in any condition to fly a jumper were Rodney, Carson, and Skyler.

There was no way Skyler was going to let McKay or Beckett pilot the jumper – both men were needed too much. Skyler on the other hand was expendable – there were plenty of soldiers to take his place.

Watching as Sheppard got closer to the Hive ship Skyler began to steel himself for what he was about to do. As if she could read his mind Elizabeth tore her gaze away from the screen to look at him. Her eyes suspiciously wet she silently gripped his hand as she turned to look back at the screen.


	18. Chapter 18

A/N: The song in this chapter is my own and I have to admit it's a whole heck of a lot harder to write lyrics than it is stories (for me anyway). Please don't use with out permission.

--

With the self-destruct klaxon sounding in the background Elizabeth watched as the screen tracking John's progress showed the explosion of the jumper impacting with one of the Hive ships. He'd done it he'd taken out the Hive ship. Her best friend had just died for all of them.

"Target has been neutralized." Chuck spoke softly.

"He did it." Elizabeth closed he eyes, shock and anguish on her face as she lowered her head. Her grip on Skyler's hand tightened, she didn't want to let him go but there was no one else to fly the second jumper. She'd just lost her best friend she didn't want to lose her nephew too.

"Yeah, he did it." Rodney agreed, grief stricken him self.

Chuck was surprised when his console started beeping, "Doctor Weir, I'm picking up another ship."

"Another Hive ship?" She pushed her grief aside as she turned towards the technician, worry etched across her face.

"Negative. I'm reading ISF."

"_Atlantis, this is Sheppard."_

"John?" Elizabeth couldn't hide the shock in her voice. Skyler grimaced as she once again tightened her grip on his hand, her nails digging into his hand.

"_What other Sheppards do you know?"_

"Oh my God!" Carson's voice was full of relief.

"No, no, that can't be." Rodney wasn't willing to believe what he was hearing. He'd seen the Hive ship explode; Sheppard was dead. "We saw the hive ship go up."

"_I assure you, Dr. McKay,"_ a new voice spoke, _"that Major Sheppard is alive and well."_

"Who is this?" Elizabeth asked, confused.

"_Colonel Steven Caldwell, commander of the Daedalus. We are ready to assist you."_

"Oh, thank you!" Rodney gasped in relief, slumping into a seat at the console, hands over his face.

"We are very glad to hear it, Colonel." Elizabeth finally let go of Skyler's hand as she bent over a laptop to disengage the self-destruct.

Subtly shaking his hand Skyler felt a weight lift off his shoulders. Sheppard was still alive and he wasn't going to have to pilot the second jumper. When the Daedalus beamed down a couple of marines with a ZPM McKay looked like a five year old at Christmas as he hurried over to them.

Things were a flurry of activity after that. While the Daedalus dealt with the last Hive ship McKay and Zelenka worked frantically on the shield, getting it up just in time to stop the kamikaze attacks by the last of the Wraith Darts. With the immediate threat of the Wraith ships over, everyone took a moment to catch their breaths before getting to work on clean up and taking care of the Wraith still left in they city.

While getting the military personnel regrouped and ready to head out into the city to hunt down the Wraith, Skyler's attention was drawn down to the gate room by a bright flash of light that his mind quickly classified as an Asgard transporter beam. About to turn back to his men Skyler noticed Elizabeth headed down the stairs towards where Sheppard had beamed in.

He couldn't help frowning slightly when he saw the two hug. It wasn't that he didn't like Sheppard, he was a good guy and all, but Elizabeth was family. She was more like a sister to Skyler than an aunt and like any other brother he was weary of any possible romantic interest. He wasn't blind he'd seen from the beginning a spark between the two, but for the most part he'd been able to delude himself into thinking it was nothing more than a close friendship, but now…? Now his delusion was coming unraveled.

--

As the wounded poured into the infirmary the medical staff worked themselves ragged trying to keep up. Even with help from the Daedalus' medical staff the infirmary was poorly under staffed to handle all the injured. There were so many wounded that anyone not dying or severely injured was being given basic first aid then sent on their way until things settled down.

As he worked Blue couldn't help thinking about all the people they'd lost or were still missing. So far the count rested at over forty people dead, missing, or injured – that was nearly a quarter of the city's population.

_"Atlantis? This is Dr. Novak on the Daedalus. You're gonna need some SOs in your infirmary before we beam your man down."_

Hearing the radio call from the Daedalus Blue moved to join Carson where he was waiting for them to beam Lt. Ford down. He'd heard the brief conversation between Carson and Elizabeth about Ford and had quickly begun to prepare various things they might need.

"We already do, Doctor. Beam away." Carson replied. When Ford appeared on the infirmary floor, soaking wet, with a Wraith stuck to his chest like an over grown leech the marines reacted instantly. "Good Lord! Let's get this thing off of him."

Cautiously the two medics approached the downed lieutenant, much to everyone's relief the Wraith was dead. It took the two of them several moments to pry the lifeless Wraith off of Ford. It was a miracle that the man was still alive; not only had a Wraith tried to feed on him he'd spent over an hour lying face down in the freezing cold water.

The passage of time was barely noticed as the staff waited for various test results and continued to deal with the many wounded that were coming and going.

--

Brain was exhausted he'd been working with one of the damage control teams to put out the various fires that were burning through out the city ever since he'd returned from the Alpha site when the shield had gone up. He'd been shoved through the Gate to the Alpha site in the chaos of the last moments before the Daedalus arrived, but as soon as the all clear had come through he'd jumped at the chance to return and help where he could.

Brain hadn't seen Axle or any member of his team for that matter since just before the evac and wondered if they'd survived. He wondered if any of the friends he'd made over the last year had survived.

"Dr. Jamsen?" One of the marines that had come down from the Daedalus approached.

"Call me Brain," Brain turned towards the marine. "Everyone else does."

"Right, Brain." He nodded. "We've got things pretty well under control here if you wanna take off to get something to eat and some rest."

Not going to argue with the man Brain nodded and started down the corridor to the nearest transporter. He debated stopping by the infirmary to see if any of his friends were there, but decided against it when he saw how busy the place was. Dropping into his seat, food tray in front of him, Brain gazed around the mess hall glad to see familiar faces amongst the small crowed.

"God I'm ready to sleep for the next year." Skyler plopped into the seat across from Brain.

"No kidding," Brain nodded poking at his food. "You seen Coop?" He'd briefly spotted Blue working in the infirmary, which only left Axle unaccounted for.

"Infirmary." Skyler dug into his own food.

"Is he alright? What happened?"

"Don't worry he'll be fine. He tried taking on a Wraith hand-to-hand and got tossed around a bit. Luckily some of the new guys showed up before the Wraith could feed on him."

"Oh, thank God!" Skyler barely had time to register Aria's voice before she was crushing him in a breath taking hug. "I didn't know if you were dead or alive. You never showed up at the Alpha site and when I came back you weren't there and nobody seemed to know where you were. I was terrified that…"

"Shh…It's okay, I'm fine." Skyler wrapped his arms around her, rubbing soothing circles over her back. "C'mon." Standing up he gave a slight nodded of goodbye to Brain before leading Aria out of the mess hall.

Entering Aria's quarters Skyler led her over to the bed. After slipping her shoes and jacket off he quickly slid his own off then guided her to lie down. Pulling the covers up over them he settled in wrapping his arms around her. With a soft sigh Aria snuggled into Skyler's warm embrace, soon they both drifted off.

--

"_Major Cain?"_

Pulled to wakefulness by a voice coming over his radio Skyler groggily glanced at his watch to see that he'd gotten a couple of hours of sleep. Carefully pulling away from Aria, he slid out of bed to answer his radio.

"Cain, here."

_"Report to the conference room."_

"Yes, sir." He recognized the voice of Col. Caldwell.

Sitting down on the bed to pull his boots on Skyler felt Aria shift, "Skyler?"

"Shh…" he leaned over to kiss her forehead. "Go back to sleep, I have a meeting to go to. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Kay…" she murmured, already slipping back to sleep.

Grabbing his jacket Skyler silently left the room. Reaching the conference room he found Caldwell waiting for him. "You wanted to see me sir?"

"Yes Major," Caldwell took in Skyler's appearance. The younger man looked like hell; his uniform was rumpled, his hair was ruffled up as if he'd just rolled out of bed, and he looked like he could do with a good nights sleep. "We're preparing to execute a plan to fool the Wraith into thinking we've destroyed Atlantis, but if it fails we're going to need to evacuate Atlantis personnel to the Daedalus. I'd like you to work with my second-in-command to coordinate that evacuation."

"Yes, sir." Skyler nodded, leaving to do as ordered when Caldwell dismissed him.

--

The plan had worked, the Wraith were gone and the city was safe as well as everyone in it. Elizabeth felt like a great burden had been lifted off her shoulders as she wearily sat down behind her desk. "John would you please sit down." She looked up at the man as he paced around her office.

"Sorry," he sat down, one of his legs bouncing nervously as he waited for Caldwell to join them.

Elizabeth couldn't help the soft smile that formed as she watched John's behavior. He was acting like a kid about to face the school principal – which she had a feeling he'd done a lot of when he'd been a kid. Shaking her head Elizabeth glanced over to Skyler who was sitting on the couch, his head leaning back against the wall.

Even though he'd finally had the chance to grab a quick shower and change into a clean uniform she could tell he was exhausted and ready for some time off. Her smile faltered slightly when she noticed the ice pack he was holding on his shoulder. She'd known that his shoulder wasn't completely back to a hundred percent when this had started she just hoped that Skyler hadn't over done it and set his recovery back.

"Sorry for the delay," Caldwell entered the office.

"Not a problem," Elizabeth indicated for the colonel to take a seat.

"I know you're all exhausted so I'll try to keep this brief." He took the proffered seat. "It's been requested that you and your senior staff return to earth for debriefing and to choose new personnel to replace those you've lost." He lowered his head slightly in respect. "You've also been granted two weeks leave, to allow for Daedalus travel time. Without the ZPM, it'll take eighteen days to travel between Earth and Atlantis."

"So we'll be gone for over a month?" John questioned not sure he liked the thought of being away from Atlantis that long.

"While I understand the need to brief the SGC, we still have a good deal of unfinished business here after the Wraith attacks." Elizabeth felt similar to John.

"The SGC has taken that into account, which is why they won't be expecting you for at least a week." Caldwell couldn't blame these people for not wanting to leave. He'd only been in Atlantis for a few days and already he couldn't imagine leaving the place for very long.

"That's appreciated Colonel." Elizabeth stood, "now if that's all I'm sure we all have work to do."

"Of course," Caldwell stood as well followed by John.

"And Colonel," Elizabeth called as Caldwell started for the door. "Please be sure to let your people know that we'll be holding a memorial service tomorrow evening on the north pier. I know you lost people in the fight, just as we did."

"I will, thank you." With that, he walked out of the office.

After Caldwell left John turned towards Elizabeth a questioning look on his face. Elizabeth silently nodded her head dismissing him. As John left she turned to face Skyler who had been suspiciously quiet for the whole meeting. Elizabeth nearly burst out laughing when she discovered that her nephew had fallen asleep.

--

Quietly moving through the crowed of people on the north pier Elizabeth watched as people lit candles and respectfully set them adrift in the ocean on the small water lily like plants they'd found growing along the coast of the Mainland. The missing faces weighted heavily on her, too many friends and colleagues had been lost.

With so many different religions and beliefs amongst the Atlantis personnel as well as the Athosians' beliefs the memorial service had been kept simple. Teyla had offered an Athosian prayer for the dead and Elizabeth had read off the names of the dead and missing: Atlanteans, Athosians, Everett's people and Daedalus crewmembers. As the sky had begun to darken people had gotten up to tell stories about the people they'd lost.

When all those who'd wished to speak had spoken, people had begun lighting candles in remembrance and setting them adrift. There must have been over two hundred candles glowing in the twilight. With tears in her eyes Elizabeth lit a candle of her own for Peter and let it go into the water.

As she stood watching the candles she registered the sound of someone playing a guitar in the background. Listening closer she realized that the tune was the same one she'd heard Skyler playing out on the balcony the night the older version of herself had died, only this time he was also singing.

"_The night has grown gray,  
__the wind has blanketed me with sorrow.  
__My mind fills with images of you, old and new,  
__making me long to have you by my side once again._

_I can't believe you're really gone.  
__I still see you in all the things you left behind.  
__You were so much to me, so much to many.  
__I can feel you near, feel you watching over me.  
__The memory of you will always follow me wherever I go._

_When the night becomes so dark with pain, I know  
__you'll be there shining down on me, guiding me  
__when I can't see my way through the darkness._

_I wish I could be with you now, but this fight's not over.  
__I'm not done yet, I'll fight all night, filling my heart  
__with the faith that kept you going through all those hard days._

_I can't believe you're really gone.  
I still see you in all the things you left behind.  
You were so much to me, so much to many.  
I can feel you near, feel you watching over me.  
The memory of you will always follow me wherever I go."_

As the sound of the guitar faded into silence the last rays of sunlight touched the sea's dark horizon. Scanning the crowd Elizabeth spotted Skyler sitting with his back propped against the wall by the door, Aria sitting next to him. Suddenly feeling like someone was watching her, Elizabeth turned to find John standing behind her.

With out a word he draped an arm over her shoulders offering her a shoulder to lean on. Taking the offered comfort she wrapped an arm around his waist and leaned her head on his shoulder. Together the two stood watching as the light from the candles reflected off the water like hundreds of diamonds.


	19. Chapter 19

"Elizabeth can we talk?" Skyler stepped out onto the balcony where Elizabeth was leaning against the railing looking out at the view.

"Sure, what's up?" Elizabeth turned to look at her nephew.

"Look I know none of this is really any of my business, but I guess I just want to know what's going on between you and Sheppard? I mean I've been watching you two for this last year and I still can't figure it out. I'm not blind I can see all those little looks and smiles you share with each other, I see the way your gaze all ways lands on him when you enters a room, and vis-versa. You both light up whenever the other enters the room. And then there was that whole hugging thing in the gate room when he came back from trying to blow himself up. I see all these subtle personal things between you both and yet at the same time you're nothing but professional to each other."

What was going on between her and John? How could Elizabeth answer that when she didn't know the answer to that herself? John was one of her best friends there was no questioning that, but on some level it was more than that.

"Don't get me wrong I'm not saying that would be a bad thing. I actually like the guy and I've noticed that despite everything we've been through this last year you've smiled more, laughed more, and just generally been happier than I've seen you in a long time, and I know it's mostly because of Sheppard… I'm just trying to look out for you; family looks out for family you know. I guess what I'm trying to say is that as long as you're happy with Sheppard or whoever than I'm happy."

"I am happy, believe me I am. And I know you're just trying to look out for me and I appreciate that, but I honestly don't know what's going on between me and John, it's complicated. But thank you for caring." Elizabeth laid a caring hand on Skyler's arm reaching up to kiss his cheek. "I should get going, they should be ready to dial earth soon."

"Good luck with the brass." Skyler kissed her cheek. "And take some flowers for me..."

"Of course," Elizabeth nodded turning to leave the balcony.

--

"Hey Major, hold up a sec." Skyler called jogging to catch up with Sheppard. "I know you're due to return to earth soon but before you go can we talk for a second?"

"What's on your mind?" John slowed his pace down.

"Elizabeth."

"Is she ok?" John stopped dead in his tracks turning the face his second in command.

"She's fine." He reassured his CO. "I wanted to talk to you about you and her."

"What about me and her?"

"Normally I wouldn't get involved in this sort of thing or even care, but Elizabeth is family and I'm just trying to look out for her…I just want to know what your intentions are towards my aunt."

"We're friends…?" John didn't sound to sure. Yeah they were friends he knew that but he had to admit that lately especially after that hug in the gate room he'd started to wonder if maybe it was more than that.

"But the potential for something more is there. But that's not what really matters to me, if something does happen between the two of you that's fine. You're a good guy, not exactly my first choice for whom I'd like to see Elizabeth with, but still a good guy. I just want Elizabeth to be happy and she's happy with you, happier than I've seen her in a long time."

"So what you're saying is that if Elizabeth and I took things to the next step you'd be ok with that?"

"I've been thinking about this for awhile and I've decided that as long as Elizabeth's happy I'm happy. But I will say this and I'll only say it once; your break her heart I break you. Rank be damned, I won't hesitate to kick your ass from one end of this city to the other and back." Not giving Sheppard a chance to respond Skyler turned and walked back the way he'd come.

--

"So are you ready for this?" Elizabeth asked as she stood next to John in the gate room waiting for the gate to dial.

"Do I have a choice?" John had to admit he was having mixed feelings about going back to earth. Sure he was happy to be going back, but he also feared that once back on earth he wouldn't be allowed to return to Atlantis. "There never gonna let me come back." John glanced around imprinting everything into his mind. He was going to miss Atlantis and all the people he'd gotten to know over the last year.

"You're coming back John, especially if I have anything to say about it." She edged a little closer to him until they were standing shoulder to shoulder, almost touching.

"You two better not blow up or sink my city while I'm gone." Rodney's voice carried through the room as he entered followed by Radek and Skyler.

"Don't worry McKay I promise you'll come back to find this place just the way you left it." Skyler rolled his eyes as he glanced up at the control room seeing Teyla already there, an amused grin on her face. He along with Radek and Teyla would be sharing the task of running the city while the senior staff was on earth.

"Oh yes that strikes me full of confidence."

As the gate activated Carson quickly guided his friend towards the wormhole before Rodney could go off on a tangent about everybody being incompetent idiots. Smiling John gestured for Elizabeth to go through first. There was a brief moment of disorientation then Elizabeth found herself stepping into the gate room under Cheyenne Mountain, John only a step behind her.

A man Elizabeth assumed to be General Landry – the new CO of the SGC – stepped forward to greet them. "Welcome home," he offered a hand to Elizabeth.

"You must be General Landry, nice to meet you," Elizabeth shook his hand. "I'm Doctor Elizabeth Weir, this is my Chief Medical Officer Doctor Carson Beckett, my Head of the Science Department Doctor Rodney McKay, and my Military officer Major John Sheppard."

"It's nice to finally meet you all." He shook hands with the others. "Now if you'll follow Walter, he'll show you to your rooms so you can get settled in. The debriefing will start tomorrow morning."

"Thank you General, we appreciate that." Elizabeth nodded as Walter led them out of the gate room.

--

"…_And as for his rank, if that's not good enough for you, you're just gonna have to promote him."_

Standing in the gate room Elizabeth watched with pride as John entered, tugging slightly at the collar of his dress uniform. This was the first time she'd ever seen John in his dress blues and Elizabeth had to admit he looked good. She smiled at him as his gaze instantly found hers, he smiled back nervously.

"Major John Sheppard."

John's gaze snapped to Landry as the man spoke. Squaring his shoulders John crossed the Gate Room, turned and walked up the long ramp towards the General. He stopped in front of the General and saluted, before standing at attention. Landry saluted back before turning to read the Promotion Warrant.

As John listened to Landry speak his gaze drifted around the room taking in all the faces in the crowd. For the most part he didn't really recognize anyone with the exceptions of Elizabeth, Rodney, and Carson. Both Elizabeth and Carson were smiling at him and even Rodney was smiling in his own way – if you could call the very slight curve of his lips a smile. He drew strength from the presence of his friends.

When the ceremony was over and people started to file out of the room John took a moment to stare at the inactive Stargate, his thoughts drifting a galaxy away, back to Atlantis. He'd been so convinced that he was never going to see Atlantis again that when he'd been told he was being promoted and given command of Atlantis' military contingent John almost hadn't believed it.

"Congratulations, Colonel."

Pulled from his thoughts, John turned and smiled at Elizabeth, Rodney and Carson who walked up the ramp towards him. Rodney and Carson echoed Elizabeth's sentiment.

"Thanks guys." John paused to tug at his collar for what felt like the millionth time. "God I can't wait to get out of this monkey suit."

While Rodney and Carson said their goodbyes and disappeared back into the crowd John's attention returned to the gate and out of the corner of his eye, he could see Elizabeth staring at it too.

John sighed, "I still can't believe I'll be going back. I was positive the higher ups were going to reassign my ass back to Antarctica the second I step foot back on earth…" He trailed off as he turned his gaze to Elizabeth.

Sensing his gaze, Elizabeth looked at him. "You deserved it John." Her voice was resolute and free of any doubt. "Now c'mon there's a party in the commissary for you." She took John's hand and led him out of the gate room. Not one to argue with her – most of the time any way – John allowed Elizabeth to pull him along.

--

"_There's something else. I met someone. You were gone for a long time, Elizabeth."_

Not sure how she felt about Simon's admission Elizabeth wandered around the SGC corridors with no specific destination in mind. After wandering aimlessly for who knew how long Elizabeth stepped onto the elevator planning to head to the surface for some fresh air. On the way up the elevator stopped to allow some one else to board. Looking up She smiled when she saw that it was John boarding the elevator.

"Elizabeth…?" John seemed surprised to see her.

"John." Elizabeth acknowledged with a smile and a small nod. It felt good to see him after the day she'd had. Somehow his presence felt refreshing and that feeling was more than welcomed.

"I thought you were going home," he said after a while and she couldn't help a sigh from escaping her lips.

"I was, but there was a change of plans."

"Every thing okay?"

"Fine, everything's fine. Some things just came up and I decided it would be easier if I just stayed here." She quickly reassured him. "What about you?"

"The last home I had was in Antarctica so..." John shrugged his shoulders as the elevator reached its destination and the two got off.

As Elizabeth started towards one of the paths that led through the woods that surrounded the mountain John tagged along having nothing better to do. The two walked in silence until they reached a clearing that gave them a view of the city below and the setting sun.

"Wanna talk about it?" John broke the silence. It didn't surprise Elizabeth that John had picked up on her mood, but at the moment she wasn't sure she wanted to talk about it.

Gazing at the horizon, she sighed shaking her head softly, "No, not really." Even as she spoke the words something within her shouted for someone to listen to her, to understand…to support her. "Simon met someone," the barely whispered words tumbled from her mouth before she realized it.

"Elizabeth…" John wasn't quite sure what to say, he didn't know a whole lot about Simon just bits and pieces he'd picked up here and there. But clearly the man was a good for nothing loser who was an idiot to give up Elizabeth, but stating that fact right now didn't seem like the way to go. "I could go beat him up if it'd help. I'm sure I could get McKay to tag along and shred the guys ego into tiny little pieces, and Carson could probably be persuaded to pull out the big needles he's always threatening me with."

John saw Elizabeth's shoulders jerk but wasn't sure if it was because she was laughing or crying. "Come here," He stepped closer wrapping his arms around her.

Elizabeth tried to cling to the tattered edges of her control, but as she moved into John's embrace she felt tears start to slide down her cheeks. She should've resisted, should've pulled away, should've kept a professional distance…but she couldn't. All she wanted was to be held, to be reassured…to be told it was okay. Wrapping her arms around him Elizabeth pressed her face into John's chest, tears flowing freely.

She wasn't sure how long she stood there before something resembling control returned to her. Elizabeth pulled back slightly, sniffling. John loosened his hold on her but didn't completely let her go. Not having a tissue he offered her a corner of his shirt to wipe her eyes with.

Elizabeth couldn't help the soft laugh that escaped, John always the gentleman. "Sorry about that."

"Don't be, Elizabeth. Everybody's allowed a good cry every now and then."

"Don't take this the wrong way John, but could I have a moment alone." Elizabeth looked into John's understanding eyes. She felt the gloom lift from her heart as he graced her with one of his disarming half smiles.

"Sure. I'll be inside if you wanna talk." John started back down the path.

"Hey, John," Elizabeth called before John got out of sight.

"Yeah?" Hands stuffed in his pockets John turned back to face Elizabeth.

"Do you have any plans for this weekend?" She ducked her head slightly suddenly feeling nervous about what she was about to ask him.

"Not really. Just thought I'd play it by ear and see what happens." He shrugged, "Why?"

"I was wondering if you'd be willing to take a little trip with me. There's something I need to do and I'd appreciate some company."

"I'd be honored to go with you." John smiled. If Elizabeth wanted his company then he'd be there for her no matter what.

--

The sun was just starting to set when Elizabeth entered the small cemetery, John trailing a short distance behind her. White roses in hand she stopped in front of four grave stones. Crouching down Elizabeth placed two roses – one from her and one from Skyler – on the graves of her parents, her sister, and her brother-in-law.

John stood back giving Elizabeth a moment to pay her respects to her family. The cemetery they were in was a beautiful place with several mature trees along the outlying edges. When Elizabeth stood back up John stepped next to her, offering her comfort if she wanted it.

Elizabeth gazed at John thankful for his comforting presence. Sliding her hand into his she gave it a squeeze of thanks. "Lt. Colonel John Sheppard I'd like you to meet my parents David and Elaine Weir and my sister and her husband Ashley and Mathew Cain."

"Pleasure," John nodded. They remained there for several more moments, taking comfort from the other's presence.

"Thank you." Elizabeth broke the silence, reaching up to kiss John's cheek.

Letting go of her hand John wrapped his arm around Elizabeth's shoulders in a comforting hug. "Anytime," he kissed her temple.

As Elizabeth rested her head on John's shoulder she let her mind wander back to the conversation she'd had with Skyler just before he'd left Atlantis. Skyler was right about her being happier this last year than she had been in awhile and it was mostly because of John.

While she was upset about her break up with Simon she had to admit she wasn't all that heart broken about it, she had told Simon not to wait for her after all. And if she was honest with herself she had to admit that Simon had filled her thoughts less and less as she'd gotten to know John better over the last year.

John may have at times infuriated her and drove her nuts, but the simple fact remained that she loved him. She wanted to be able to place herself in his care and let him be her knight in shining armor – as clichéd as that sounded. Now all she had to do was decide whether or not she wanted to risk her friendship with John by taking things to the next level.


	20. Chapter 20

A/N: I bow down before your mighty readershipness and beg forgiveness for the lateness of this chapter. I unexpectedly had to go out of town for the week and didn't have access to the Internet.

Also I'm psyched that four of my stories (_Anything?_, _Recovery_, _Second Chance_, and _Go Tell Mom_.) have all been nominated for Stargate Fan Awards. I'd like to say thanks to whoever nominated my stories for the Stargate Fan Awards.

So when June 29 - Aug 15 (tentative date)rolls around you should head over to the Stargate Fan Award site and vote for all the great stories and multimedia projects that have been nominated.

--

(Takes place around the same time as the last chapter).

Sitting at the table in the briefing room Skyler fought to keep himself from falling asleep. It had only been a few days since the command staff had left for Earth and already he was wishing like hell that Elizabeth and the others were still there. Glancing around the room Skyler's gaze landed on Major Lorne.

Lorne had arrived on the Daedalus and was technically the new second in command of the military contingent – the situation was similar to the one between Skyler and Sheppard after Sumner had died, only this time Lorne out ranked him by a month not two years.

Skyler only briefly knew Lorne, since Lorne had only been working at the SGC for about a year when the Atlantis expedition had left earth, but he seemed to be quite competent at doing his job. He knew that most officers would be silently fuming at being demoted in the chain of command, but for the most part Skyler had no problem letting Lorne take the job, it meant less paper work for him.

"I do not know how she does it." Radek's voice drew Skyler's attention away from Lorne. "So many files and reports, how does one keep them all straight?"

Glancing over at Radek, he saw the scientist shifting through the reports in front of him. Skyler had to agree with Radek, he had no idea how Elizabeth managed. He along with Radek and Teyla had dived Elizabeth's workload between them hoping to make things easier, yet it still felt like they were each doing a full workload. Between helping Radek and Teyla with Elizabeth's workload and helping to ease Lorne into his new job Skyler was exhausted.

Once all the coffee was poured and the pre-briefing chatter died down the group got down to business. The next several hours were filled with reviewing reports, filling out forms about reports, approving reports, giving reports to someone to file, and filling out reports about all the reports they'd reviewed. By the time they decided to call it a day Skyler was about ready to scream – he really, really hated doing paper work.

--

Entering the infirmary planning to pay Axle a visit Skyler paused when he heard the murmur of voice from the other side of the privacy curtain.

"I'm telling you, Jero, you should just ask her." He heard Brain's voice.

"I can't, that's the whole point." The voice was unfamiliar to Skyler.

"How are you ever going to find out if Earth girls are easy if you never ask one of them out?" Axle piped in.

Not sure if he wanted to know what kind of corruption the two were up to Skyler shook his head slightly as he poked it around the privacy curtain. Axle was sitting up in his bed, his right leg was in a cast and he had one hell of a shiner around his left eye. On the bed next to Axle's a young Athosian man sat cross legged, his left arm in a cast. Brain was sitting in a chair he'd pulled up between the two beds.

"Skyler, hey," Axle spotted Skyler first. "Pull up a seat, you're just in time to help us out."

"This isn't going to end with me being locked up in the brig is it?" Skyler moved to perch on the end of Axle's bed.

"No, not this time." He shook his head, "It seems Jero here has a crush on one of the nurses, but is too scared to ask her out."

Before Skyler had the chance to give his opinion the privacy curtain was pulled aside and Blue appeared carrying a set of crutches. "Alright Coop that new Doc they got filling in for Beckett says its time for you to stop taking up valuable bed space."

"Finally," Jero's problem momentarily forgotten about Axle sat up straighter in bed.

"Sky, Brain can you guys help steady Coop while I get him up and situated on the crutches?" Ignoring Axle's protest Skyler and Brain each gripped an arm while Blue shifted Axle's legs off the bed. Skyler and Brain couldn't help smirking at the way Axle moved around like he was an old man.

Axle glared at his friends, "You guys don't wipe those smirks off your faces I'm gonna beat you with my crutches."

"Your crutches of death, sir." Blue handed Axle the crutches. "Try not to cause any permanent damage."

"C'mon let's get you to your quarters before you actually do start swing your crutches at people." Brain started ushering Axle out the door. Skyler started to follow, rubbing at his shoulder.

"Shoulder bothering you?" Skyler turned back to face Blue at the question.

"Nah, it's just a little stiff." Skyler shook his head, "I haven't had the chance to work it out, been stuck in meetings all day."

Seeing the truth in Skyler's eyes Blue nodded then started shooing the man out of the infirmary.

--

Sitting in Elizabeth's office Skyler forced himself to stay put and work his way through the frightening mountains of paperwork. It seemed that every time he took his eyes off them they multiplied. Hearing the soft knock on the open doorway he looked up more than grateful for the interruption.

"Not interrupting, am I?" Kate stood in the doorway.

"No, no, not at all. Come in, pull up a chair." Skyler refused to acknowledge the desperation in his voice. "What's up?"

"Just making the rounds, seeing how people are doing." She sat down in one of the visitor's chairs. "So how are things going?"

"Other than the fact that I'd much rather take on an entire Hive Ship by myself and unarmed than be here doing this never ending paper work, I'm peachy." He sat back scrubbing a hand through his hair. "Paperless office my ass."

"Yes they do have a bad habit of leaving that side of things out of the brochure."

"I don't know how the hell Elizabeth managed to do this job for a year and not go insane. I just finished reading a _five_ page report from Kavanagh complaining about the lumpy mashed potatoes being served in the mess hall. Hell I know Kavanagh loves to complain, but shit _five_ pages complaining about _potatoes_."

Suddenly a commotion from the gate room had the two's attention. Turning to look out the glass window Skyler spotted Kavanagh in the gate room bitching at Radek about who knew what? Radek of course was bitching back just as hard – not that anyone expected any less, the man was friends with McKay after all.

Refusing to let out the groan that was struggling to escape Skyler pushed himself to his feet headed for the door. "That Hive ship is sounding better and better by the minute."

"Let me handle this," Kate stood up as well, stopping Skyler at the door.

"You sure?" He raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

"Yes, believe it or not I am trained to help people find ways to work out their problems. You go do whatever it is you do when not on duty. In fact I just kicked Aria out of the office before coming here and I know she's been dying to have some quality time just the two of you."

"Thanks, I owe ya one." Skyler quickly left before somebody tried cornering him about something or another. Between his workload and Aria's the two had been lucky to get five minutes to themselves lately.

Quickly making his way to Aria's quarters Skyler had to bite his tongue to keep from screaming his frustration out when he heard Lorne calling his name from behind him down the corridor. So close, he had been so close. One transporter ride and a quick two minute walk and he would have been safely locked away for the night, but no the universe had it out for him, it was determined to drive him insane.

Knowing that he couldn't ignore Lorne, Skyler turned to face the man, hoping that whatever it was he wanted would be quick and simple. But once again the universe had to smack him down; instead of spending the night with his girlfriend Skyler was stuck spending it running security drills. That Hive ship was starting to look _very_ appealing.

--

Receiving word that the Daedalus had finally landed Skyler couldn't make his way to the control room fast enough. Reaching the control room he made a beeline for Elizabeth's office. He barely stopped long enough to acknowledge Teyla and Radek as they left her office.

"How the hell are you still sane?"

"What no welcome home?" Elizabeth sighed. She'd been expecting to hear from Skyler soon, but she hadn't even had the chance to sit down yet.

"I'm serious how the hell are you still sane after doing this job for a year. There were three of us doing your job and we were still being run ragged." He plopped down on the couch. "I've done more paper work in the last month then I've done in my entire life." He dramatically draped an arm over his eyes.

Elizabeth had to smile at her nephew's drama; it was good to be home.

--

John wasn't surprised to find Elizabeth standing out on their balcony looking over the ocean view. Moving to stand at her side John leaned against the railing. They stood there for a while, watching as the sun set and the first stars appeared. Noticing that Elizabeth was starting to shiver slightly in the chilly night air John slid his jacket off and draped it over her shoulders.

"So wanna tell me what's on your mind?" John finally broke the silence. "You've been kind of quiet since we left earth."

"I've just been thinking about some things." Elizabeth gripped John's jacket around her shoulders. "I had a conversation with Skyler before we left for earth and he pointed some things out to me. I've just been trying to figure what I want to do with that information."

"And what was this conversation about?" Judging from the conversation he'd had with Skyler himself, John thought he had an idea what the conversation had been about.

"You and me." Elizabeth smiled slightly, if a little uncertainly. "He asked me what was going on between us."

"What'd you tell him?" John felt himself getting nervous about hearing her answer.

"I told him that honestly I didn't know what was going on between us, that it was complicated." She ducked her head feeling almost shy; it was like she was back in high school talking to her first crush. "I'm mean I know what I'd like to be going on but…"

Feeling hope surge through him John debated with himself about his next move and decided that if he didn't do this now, he might not get the courage again anytime soon. Leaning forward slowly enough that Elizabeth could tell him to stop if she wanted him to, John slipped a hand behind her neck and then they were kissing and to John it felt like being in heaven.

"Ahhh! So not an image I needed in my head, thank you very much!" Startled John and Elizabeth abruptly broke apart turning to face Skyler who stood just in front of the balcony doors.

Elizabeth recovered first, "What are you complaining about? You're the one who got the ball rolling on this."

"Doesn't mean I wanna see it!" The last thing he'd expected to find when he'd come out onto the balcony was his aunt and his CO making out like a couple of teenagers.

Elizabeth couldn't help the laugh that escaped when she took in the slightly disturbed and horrified look on her nephew's face.

"I'm gonna go gouge my eyes out with a spork now." Officially traumatized for life Skyler shuddered dramatically as he beat a quick retreat.

Once Skyler had left Elizabeth turned to face John and had to laugh again at seeing the 'deer caught in the headlights' look on his face. Knowing the perfect way to wipe the look off his face she threaded her fingers into his hair, pulling his mouth down to hers. At first John was hesitant and unsure, as if he expected someone else to walk in on them. It only lasted a moment, though, and then he gave a little groan and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her body flush against his.

When her shirt rode up a little in the back Elizabeth felt John's hand on her bare flesh, sliding upwards. "We should probably take this somewhere less public."

"Your room or mine?" John asked mischievously, but the look in his eyes was serious and Elizabeth felt both a little thrill at the words, and a little worry that they were taking things too fast, but then she remembered the feel of his lips on hers, his hands on her skin and she decided she didn't really care how fast they were taking it. The two of them had been skirting around the issue for the last year putting their jobs and the expedition before their own happiness, it was time they allowed their happiness to come first.

--

A/N: That's it for season one, but don't worry I plan to hopefully start season two soon. I just got a new job which I start this week so I probably won't be as regular with updates as I have been in the past, but I'll try not to be too irregular.


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